I'll Come Back Soon, I Promise
by Jiang-Mei
Summary: "That poor girl, what could've happened to her?"/"If you want to be a ninja you should learn to protect yourself." "What would you know? You're just a stupid boy."/"We got ambushed and separated."/"They're still out there, wounded!" NON-MASSACRE OC
1. Safe

Hey guys! So this is my very first story ever and I'm really excited. I'd really appreciate it if you guys would review and tell me what you think. The next two chapters might or might not seem a little slow, but they are necessary to get the story set up, so bare with me.

I'd like to give a special thank you to Mandi2341 who edited my story for me. Thanks Mandi2341!

Also, in this story the main character is going to be my OC. BEFORE you leave because you read the words "main character" and "OC" in the same sentence, please just read my first chapter before you decide you hate it just because it's about an OC. Thanks! Now, without further ado...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I only own the various OC's I make up.

* * *

Screams and smoke filled the air. Clan members ran around in a panic trying to escape. Tongues of fire licked at the houses. An adolescent girl ran out of a burning house pulling a young girl behind her. They ran into the nearby forest to hide.

"Wait here, Kimiko. I'm going back to look for Guren. Whatever you do, don't get caught" said the older girl soothingly as the younger girl forcefully shook her head at the idea, "Don't worry, I'll come back soon. I promise," were her last words to her younger sister before she ran back into the smoke.

"Mikomi! Don't leave me! Please!" Kimiko yelled after her sister.

Slowly the screaming began to die down, and the night sky only grew darker with the suffocating smoke. Mikomi still had not come back yet. Suddenly Kimiko's older cousin Guren stumbled out of a burning house and collapsed to her knees with a dazed expression and tears in her eyes.

Kimiko was just about to run to her, when an earsplitting shriek pierced the air followed by the sound of shattering crystal. Kimiko froze and looked towards the house, while Guren gazed deadly at the house.

At that moment both Kimiko and Guren knew Mikomi was dead.

Kimiko collapsed in to the fetal position and started whimpering. When she was finally able to look back out at the traumatic scene, she saw a lone man with a strange purple rope tied around his waist, step out of one of the smoldering clan houses unscathed.

She saw him bend down and whisper something in Guren's ear, before he continued walking away. To Kimiko's distress, Guren got up, turned around and ran after him.

As she peeked out of her hiding spot one last time, the man glanced at her and Kimiko gasped as she saw the face of the man that had slaughtered her friends, her family, and her clan.

It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her short life. The man's skin was deathly pale, with a thin face and long black, stringy hair. But the thing that scared her most was his golden, snake-like eyes that looked inhuman and deadly.

She stared at the man for what seemed like forever to her, but was only a second in reality before the man looked away.

She watched as her cousin ran eagerly after the man that had taken so much from her, from them. When both figures had been out of sight for about ten minutes, Kimiko exhaled and fell to the ground shuddering.

"You didn't come back," she whispered. "You promised! Why didn't you come back?" She chanted as she sat under the giant tree with her arms around herself, "You promised..."

As night slowly transitioned into dawn the fires began to subside and the sky began to clear. Kimiko slowly began to slip into a deep, restless sleep full of nightmares of what had occurred that night, and of the face of the murderer of her clan.

As she tossed and turned on the forest floor, she began to cry out in her sleep.

"No! No! Mikomi! No! Come back! You didn't come back...MIKOMI!"

* * *

As the lone, silver-haired anbu traveled through the forest, on his way back home from an S-ranked mission, he began to see signs of a fight.

He was about to investigate more when he heard a loud shout.

"MIKOMI!"

He ran as fast as he could towards the shout, and when he got to the clearing, he saw the remnants of a massacre. Houses had been burned to the ground, and bodies had been left to rot. The air around the site was silent except for the occasional crackle of embers that hadn't quite died yet.

As his ears adjusted to the deafening silence, he began to hear whimpers and looked around for their source, only to find a little girl covered in ashes and dirt, who looked no older than seven or eight, flailing around in her sleep.

As he approached her and bent down to pick her up, she was startled out of her sleep and awoke in a panic.

"Get away! Stay away from me!" she sobbed.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay. You're safe now. My name's Kakashi. I'm going to take you to a safe place."

The sound of the man's calming voice comforted Kimiko, and when he went to pick her up again, she relaxed into his arms and fell in to a slightly more restful sleep.

The last things she saw as she dozed off were the burned remains of her home, and the cat mask of the man who was going to take her to some place safe.

* * *

So If you guys liked my story and want to keep reading it, **I'd appreciate it if you would go to the poll in my profile and vote on if you want this to be cannon or non-massacre.** Just so you know, if it is non-massacre, I will make tobi his own character, NOT Madara. Mostly for comic relief stuff I think.

I hope you guys enjoyed my story! **VOTING CLOSED**

This chapter is based on a flashback near the middle-end of Naruto Shippuden episode 92. Just incase you're interested.


	2. Revelations

Just in case you were wondering, Kimiko will be about the same age as Temari all through this story.

right now **Kimiko is 8. Kakashi would be about 19. So yes he would still be an Anbu.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Kimiko slowly forced herself to open her tired, tear-stained eyes and found herself looking at a white ceiling.

For some strange reason, she didn't hurt anymore. And when she looked down at the only parts of her body she could see, her arms, she couldn't find the burns she knew she had from _that_ night.

"Oh that poor girl, what she must have gone through!"

"All those burns, what could have happened?"

"I heard her village got attacked and she's the only survivor!"

"Well I heard the whole village got burned down! She's lucky to be alive," Whispered some nurses gathered around the room's door.

Kimiko slowly sat up and looked around the room. Everything was white, from the walls, to the sheets, the only thing that wasn't was a pale blue curtain that separated her bed from an empty one.

* * *

"Kakashi."

"Hm?

"Where any survivors found?"

"No, my lord, the girl was the only one left alive."

"I see," said the Hokage in a dismissive tone. Kakashi stood there.

"Is there anything you wish to ask me?" asked the Hokage.

"Actually, I was wondering," started Kakashi, "It's been three days. Has she woken up yet?"

"Not to my knowledge, but we'll know as soon as she does."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," said Kakashi as he teleported away.

* * *

"It really is sad, and she's so young too."

"It must have been really traumatic for her."

"To just lose everyone like that..."

"Kiyo! Kokoa! Yuu! All of you should know better than to stand outside a patient's room and gossip about her! Now all of you shoo! I know you have work to do!" said a senior nurse.

"Yes, Senpai!" said the nurses before running off to find jobs to do.

Fusa quietly walked in to check on the patient, only to find that she was awake. She quickly walked to the door and shouted to an intern, "Go tell the Hokage that the little girl is awake! Hurry!"

"Yes, Senpai," said the intern as she ran off.

* * *

Kimiko was staring blankly at the wall when she noticed a middle-aged nurse come check her vitals and stats.

"It's good to see you're up, sweetie. We were worried about you for a while. My name's Fusa. What's yours?" asked the nurse as she went about her duties.

Kimiko didn't say anything. She just looked down at her now healed arms.

"Oh! You must feel so much better now. We healed all your burns. You also had quite a few bad bruises. You were hurt pretty badly."

Kimiko moved her gaze back to the wall with the same blank stare she had earlier.

"Excuse me Senpai, the Hokage wishes to see you outside," said the intern.

"Alright, I'll be there shortly," said Fusa before turning to Kimiko and saying, "Don't worry, I'll come back soon. I promise."

Kimiko shuddered as the words "_Don't worry, I'll come back soon. I promise_" echoed around her brain. She whimpered.

* * *

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" asked Fusa as she closed the hospital door behind her.

"How is she?"

"She's awake, and her vital signs are fine. Physically she'd be ready to leave the hospital in a few days," she explained as the Hokage stared at her. "But that's not what you meant, is it." said Fusa, "To be honest, I think she's really traumatized. She won't say a thing to me. She won't even look at me."

"May I go in to see her?"

"Of course Hokage-sama."

As the two entered the room, Fusa said in a happy voice, "See! I told you I'd be back soon!"

Kimiko still didn't move. The Hokage walked over to the side of her bed and kneeled down to be eye-level with her.

"Young lady, can you look at me?"

Kimiko turned her head just a little so that she could see him in the corner of her eye.

"Can you tell me what your name is?"

"Kimiko..." she whispered.

The Hokage smiled, "Hello Kimiko, my name is Sarutobi. Now can you tell me what happened three nights ago?"

Kimiko started shaking and hyperventilating.

"Kimiko, honey, I need you to slow down and take several deep breaths, for me," said Fusa.

Slowly Kimiko's breathing returned to normal and she stopped shaking.

"Hmm," thought the Hokage, "Kimiko, if you allow us, there is a genjustu we could use on you. It's called the Time Reversal Technique. It would allow you to remember things more clearly, and help keep you from feeling the emotions that come with the memories It won't take them away completely, but it will help. Will you agree to let us use this technique on you?"

Kimiko turned to look at the Hokage and seemed to study him for a moment, before nodding yes. Sarutobi turned and nodded to Fusa.

"Okay Kimiko, I need you to relax for me, sweetie," she said as she formed the hand signs, "Time Reversal Jutsu!" Kimiko's head slumped forward.

"Okay sweetie, let yourself travel back to three days ago. What happened?"

"I was asleep...onee-san came and woke me up. There was smoke everywhere. It was hot. She pulled me outside. We hid in the forest...no, I hid in the forest. She went back for Guren."

"Who's Guren?"

"My cousin...Mikomi went back for my cousin...but she didn't come back... She didn't come back! She promised!"

"Calm down Kimiko. What happened next?"

"Guren came out of a house, then _He _came out..._He _said something to her, then she followed _Him_. _HE _killed our whole family, our clan, and she ran after _HIM_!"

"Are you saying that _one_ man had the ability to kill your whole clan?"

"Yes."

Fusa and Sarutobi exchanged glances.

"Kimiko, can you describe what this man looked like?"

"He was pale and had long, black hair. His eyes were...gold. He looked like a snake."

Fusa and Sarutobi looked at each other, alarmed!

"Release!" Fusa yelled, as Kimiko came to, she said, "Sweetie, stay her and get some rest okay?"

Kimiko didn't complain, she was tired and immediately fell asleep when her head hit the pillows.

"Is it Orochimaru? What am I saying? It has to be him."

"I must go discuss some important matters with the elders. Take care of her," ordered Sarutobi.

"Of course I'll take care of her! What do you take me for?"

"A very good doctor," said Sarutobi as he hurried away.

* * *

**My poll is still open. If you haven't voted, GO VOTE!** Thanks for reading this guys! **VOTING IS NOW CLOSED**


	3. Choices

Hey guys! only one more chapter until Itachi shows up! Excited?

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my story, and if you have even more time when you get to the end of my chapter, you should vote on my poll and tell me what you think in the reviews.

Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

"Orochimaru!" exclaimed the Elders.

"We must send Anbu out immediately!" demanded Homura.

"Anbu have already been sent out to the wreckage. If there was still any trace of Orochimaru there, we would know," replied Sarutobi calmly.

"That well may be," said Koharu, "But you I both know that we can't just sit here and do nothing."

"I won't be doing nothing, I'll be helping the one survivor get acclimated to Konoha," retorted Sarutobi.

"That's right!" said Homura, "And what of the girl? She could be a spy for Orochimaru!"

"I doubt that even Orochimaru starts them that young, Homura," said Sarutobi.

"We should still have her interrogated, just to be safe." Koharu thought aloud.

"And what if she is simply a scared young girl, that suddenly found herself alone in the world, in a strange village?" reasoned Sarutobi.

"And what if she's pretending?" asked Homura, "What if everything she told us is a lie, planted by Orochimaru."

"Trust me friend, I've talked with the girl. No one can pretend to feel the kind of pain she feels right now," said Sarutobi.

The room was silent; both elders were deep in thought.

"Here is what I have decided," declared the Hokage, "I will send a specialized team of Anbu tracker-nin back to the site of the massacre. Kimiko will be allowed to live freely in the village like any other child, but I will have someone check in on her routinely. Does that suit the both of you?"

"I believe that will do nicely."

"Agreed."

* * *

One Week Later

"Okay, Kimiko-chan! Today's the day you get discharged! You can to see all of Konoha for the first time now. Are you excited?" exclaimed Fusa.

"Fusa-san, thank you," mumbled Kimiko from her spot on the bed.

Fusa stopped what she was doing and looked at Kimiko; a smile grew on her face.

"No problem," she said gently, "Come on, let's go get you discharged."

Fusa held out her hand, and Kimiko looked at it before slowly taking her hand.

"Okay, sweetie! You're all set to go!" announced Fusa, "Oh, the Hokage wanted to see you in his office after you go discharged. Do you know how to get there?"

Kimiko shook her head sadly.

"Oh, don't worry about it! I'll take you there myself! It'll be no trouble at all!"

* * *

"Kakashi."

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"After I meet with Kimiko today, I'd like you to show her to her new home. I'd also like you to keep an eye on her and check on her every now and then."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

"You are dismissed."

* * *

Kimiko stared doubtfully at the towering door of the Hokage's office.

She looked back at Fusa who said, "Oh, its okay sweetie, go on in," as she gave Kimiko an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.

Kimiko hesitantly pushed the doors open to see the old man sitting at his desk.

"Kimiko, come. Sit," said the Hokage in a pleasant voice.

Kimiko walked into the room and sat down after looking around the office. The thing that caught her eye the most was the view from the giant window that seemed to span the wall.

"It's a beautiful view isn't it?" commented the Hokage, "When I have free time I love looking out at the streets and watching the villagers and ninjas go about their daily lives."

"It's breathtaking," said Kimiko in awe.

"Well, down to business. We've found a small house for you in the village, it even has part of the forest in its backyard. You should like it. Here are the keys." said the Hokage.

"Thank you, Sarutobi-sama," said Kimiko as she took the keys and got up to leave.

"Don't be in such a hurry," said the Hokage as Kimiko sat back down, "There's still the matter of your education. I need to know what school to enroll you in. Do you want to be a ninja or civilian?"

Kimiko thought for a moment then remembered the ninja that killed her family, as well as the ninja that brought her to the village.

"I want to be strong. I want to be a ninja, and I want to find my cousin" decided Kimiko.

"Very well, I shall have the application sent in. You are dismissed. Kakashi will take you to your new home." said Sarutobi before turning to the window.

Kimiko got up and walked to the door. When her hand was on the door knob, Sarutobi stopped her and said, "By the way, does your clan have a Kekkei-Genkai I should know about?"

"My clan...has a chakra nature called Crystal Release, but not every member has it," said Kimiko then she turned the door knob and walked out only to be greeted by the silver haired ninja that had brought her to Konoha.

"Hi, remember me? I'm Kakashi. I'll be taking you to your new house," he said as he put away a little orange book.

* * *

Kimiko wandered around her house. It felt so weird saying that. It was _her_ house; hers and no one else's. From now on she would be living alone, raising herself.

She sat on her bed with her arms around her legs.

It wasn't like it was a bad house. It was nicely furnished and was already stocked with food. It wasn't too big, or too small, it was just right for one person to live in. Somehow though, it felt lonely, unlived in and unloved.

As Kimiko was pondering this there came a knock at the door, when she got to the door no one was there. Then she looked down and saw a letter that said:

_To Kimiko-san_

How exciting! This was the very first letter that she had gotten addressed to her before! She brought it in to her bedroom sat down and opened the letter curiously. It read:

_Dear Kimiko-san,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you are accepted into the Ninja Academy. We have been informed of your situation and understand that you are new to the village, so we have enclosed a map showing you how to find the school. Your homeroom teacher will be Suzume-sensei. School will start tomorrow at 8:00. You will receive your school supplies when you arrive. We look forward to teaching you._

_Sincerely,_

_The Ninja Academy Teaching Staff_

**

* * *

**

Seriously guys, you need to vote on if you want the story to be CANNON or NON-MASSACRE. My poll is still open! Go to my profile and vote now!

VOTING CLOSED!


	4. Encounter

Itachi is here!

**Seriously guys, only two people have voted. You need to vote on if you want the story to be non-massacre or cannon. You can vote on my profile or in your reviews.**

**VOTING CLOSED!**

Kimiko is 8

Itachi is 10 in this so he will be sort of OOC because I'm going to give him some of that little boy smugness. Don't worry, it will go away as soon as he grows up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Weeks Later

Kimiko was staring out of an Academy window while Suzume-sensei was trying to teach the class something about Chakra Natures.

Not much had changed since shed had started school. She still felt empty and she still had no friends; all the other kids at the Academy already had their own group of friends that they stuck to.

It wasn't like she cared though. She didn't want any friends. She just wanted people to stop feeling sorry for her, and if she had friends, that's all they would do.

"Kimiko! Please rejoin the class! I know you have special circumstances, but it's been weeks now. I can't keep letting you zone out in class.

"Sure 'Special Circumstances'," Kimiko thought glumly to herself as she turned her attention to the lesson.

"Now today I have a special treat for yoall of you. We're going to find out what each of your chakra types are!" said Suzume-sensei as she handed out Chakra Paper to the class.

"If the paper ignites and turns to ash, your type is Fire. If it splits in two, your Nature Type is Wind. If it crumples up, your chakra type is Lightning. If the paper turns to dirt and crumbles away, you have Earth nature. And, finally, if the paper becomes wet, your type is Water. All you have to do is apply chakra to the paper like I showed you yesterday."

All the kids hurriedly started pouring their chakra into the papers. Kimiko picked the paper up and put some of her chakra into the paper. She stared in shock as she saw her paper crystallize and crumble away to a fine pink crystal powder.

_Kimiko was watching her sister train with Guren._

_"Onee-san! I want to be just like you and Guren, and have the Crystal Release! It looks so cool!" declared a gleeful Kimiko. _

_Mikomi laughed, "Maybe you will," she said, "You never know."_

As Kimiko stared at the crystallized powder, kids all around her shouted out excitedly.

"Cool I got Water Type!

"Ha! I got Earth! Mine's better than yours is!"

"I got Lightning how cool is that!"

**Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong**

"That's the bell! You're all dismissed!"

Kids scrambled out of the classroom happily, while Kimiko carefully scooped up her powder and put it into a little jar leftover from her lunch.

"Kimiko, the Hokage would like to speak with you. You should go straight to his office now."

"Fine," Kimiko mumbled as she walked out.

* * *

"Kimiko, your teacher tells me you keep daydreaming in class," said Sarutobi only to be met with silence.

"I thought you wanted to be a ninja," Sarutobi tried again only to be met with silence.

"I understand that you are still grieving over the loss of your family but-"

"I get the message. I'll pay attention from now on," interrupted sullenly Kimiko before getting up and leaving.

* * *

Kimiko was sitting on a swing in the park watching other kids play when a parent came to get one child.

"Come on Tenten, time to go home!"

"Coming Mommy!" yelled a little girl in an Asian-looking outfit.

_"Come on, Kimiko! Let's go home," shouted Mikomi in a funny exaggerated voice._

_Kimiko giggled as she ran after Mikomi, "Coming Onee-san!" she yelled._

The happy shrieks of the other children filled the air.

_A shriek pierced the air. Kimiko froze and looked towards the house._

Kimiko cringed and decided it was time to leave.

As she walked down the street, people pushed past each other to get to the various stalls and shops.

_People ran a round trying to escape the flames._

The sound of their chatty voices escalated as more people came out onto the streets. It must have been the busiest time of the day.

Their voices were loud in Kimiko's ears and, she could smell the smoke from the food stalls.

_Screams and smoke filled the air as Mikomi pulled her through the smoke and bodies of panicking family members._

Kimiko couldn't stand it any more and decided to take the scenic route. She pushed past random people and ran for the forest.

She kept running until the only sounds she could here were the natural ones from the various animals living there, but something was out of place. Then she heard it, the hiss of a snake.

She slowly turned towards the sound only to see an albino snake. Fear seized her as the snake hissed at her.

_The man's skin was deathly pale, with a thin face and long black, stringy hair. But the thing that scared her most was his golden, snake-like eyes that looked inhuman and deadly._

Kimiko started to slowly back up, but in her fear induced clumsiness, she fell backwards with a thump and cried out when the startled snake launched himself at her and bit her outstretched arm.

* * *

Nearby a young boy was training in the woods when he heard a loud thump followed by a scream.

He ran as quickly as he could to where he heard the scream from. When he got there, he saw a trembling girl on the ground with a snake attached to her arm. He calmly walked over and coaxed the albino snake off of the girl's arm.

The black haired boy proceeded to take a bandage out of his weapons pouch and tied it tightly around her arm above the wound.

As he finished tying it he saw the small Ninja Academy symbol on her shirt.

"If you want to be a ninja you should learn to protect yourself," the boy remarked.

* * *

At that moment, something snapped inside of Kimiko.

"What would you know about anything?" she yelled, "You're just a stupid boy!"

Having adults pity her and lecture her was one thing, but definitely she wouldn't let this boy tell her what to do with her life.

She was about to yell at the pensive looking boy some more when he said, "Maybe you're right."

"What?" asked the taken aback Kimiko.

"Maybe you're right," repeated the boy as he picked her up, "But right now we need to get you to the hospital."

"What are you doing? I don't need your help!"

"Yes you do. The snake could have been venomous, and if you keep squirming like that the venom will spread quicker."

"Hmpf!" grumbled Kimiko as she stopped squirming.

* * *

"Kimiko? What are you doing back here?" Fusa asked a pouting Kimiko, "Your last appointment isn't until Friday."

"She got bitten by a snake," said the quiet boy.

Only then did Fusa realize that said pouting girl was being held by said quiet boy.

"Oh Itachi-san!" exclaimed Fusa, "Why don't you two come into room one and I'll take a look at that bite."

* * *

"Thank you for bringing her in Itachi-san," said Fusa as she worked on Kimiko's arm, "Kimiko, what were you doing in the woods?"

"Going home!" said an exasperated Kimiko, "And I still didn't need his help!"

Itachi just stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"This is the liveliest I've ever seen her," giggled Fusa to herself, aloud she said, "Actually, the snake was venomous. If Itachi hadn't brought you here, well at the very least you would have been sick for quite a while. You're lucky Uchiha-san found you."

Itachi smirked as if to say "Ha I told you," before deciding that he could leave. Kimiko sulked while he walked out the door.

"Since you're here, we can go ahead and get your last check up over with if you want."

"Okay," Kimiko sighed.

* * *

That night Kimiko took her jar of crystal powder out of her lunch bag and gently set it on her bedside table.

"See Onee-san? I'm just like you now," she whispered as she turned out the lights and went to sleep.

* * *

The next day at school they learned about Genjutsu. Suzume-sensei even brought in a guest speaker named Kurenai-sensei.

Kimiko wasn't paying attention though. Instead her mind kept dwelling on what the boy had said to her, "If you want to be a ninja you should learn to protect yourself."

She knew he was right. She had to get stronger and she knew getting over her fears was the first step. Figuring out how to do it was the problem.

After a whole class period of thinking, Kimiko had her solution.

When class was over and all the other kids had rushed out, Kimiko went up to Kurenai.

"Kurenai-sensei, can someone use Genjutsu to overcome their fears?"

"Yes, someone could, but that would mean over-exposing someone to their fear, which would be psychologically harmful."

"Will you help me by using your Genjutsu on me like that?"

Kurenai was about to say no, but when she saw the determination in Kimiko's eyes, something made her change her mind.

"Alright," she sighed.

* * *

**Seriously guys, only one person has voted. You need to vote. LAST CHANCE TO VOTE ON MY POLL! GO TO MY PROFILE AND VOTE ON IF YOU WANT THE STORY TO BE CANNON OR NON-MASSACRE! OR VOTE IN A REVIEW!**

**VOTING CLOSED!**


	5. Introductions

So the Poll is now officially closed. **THE STORY HAS BEEN VOTED TO BE NON-MASSACRE**.

***IMPORTANT* Because the story is Non-Massacre:**

**Tobi will be his own character _not _Madara**

**In the beginning Itachi will already have a girlfriend. THAT WILL EVENTUALLY CHANGE. The story WILL STILL BE Itachi x Kimiko**

**Sasuke will NOT go to Orochimaru**

**Itachi WILL be a little different because he is NOT A CRIMINAL ANY MORE**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

AGES:

Kimiko: 15

Reiko: 16

Itachi: 17

Tobi: 17

Shisui: 19

* * *

Seven Years Later

All the proctors from the Chunin Exams and the Hokage were gathered in the Hokage's office discussing who should be made chunin.

"And lastly, Kurisutaru Kimiko," read the Hokage.

Ibiki stepped forward, "We the proctors, would like to recommend Kurisutaru Kimiko for the rank of chunin."

"I agree," said Sarutobi, "She's come a long way since she first came to the village. Now all that's left is finding her a new team."

"Didn't Shisui Uchiha just become an Anbu?" voiced Anko, "Why don't you just put her with his old team."

"Very well," said the Hokage as he stamped some papers in Kimiko's file.

* * *

Kimiko was training when she felt a presence watching her and shot some crystal shuriken in that direction. Kakashi hesitantly came out rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, hi Kimiko, I was just ah..."

"Stop spying on me Kakashi. It was one thing when I was a little eight-year-old, but now I can take care of my self."

"Actually this time I really do have a reason to be here," said Kakashi defensively, "The Hokage wants to see you in his office."

"Oh."

* * *

"Congratulations Kimiko, you've been made a chunin," announced the Hokage, "Your new teammates will be Leiko Uchiha and Tobi Uchiha. You will meet with them tomorrow at the Nakano River. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said Kimiko as she teleported away.

* * *

The Next Morning

Kimiko was packing her training supplies and was about to walk out the door, when something caught her eye. It was the little jar of crystallized powder from seven years ago.

She smiled and was about to leave when she changed her mind and put it in her weapons pouch.

"For good luck," she whispered to herself.

When she finally got to the river she saw two ninja. One was a boy and the other was a girl.

The boy had black spiky hair and was dressed in all black except for an orange swirled mask with only one eye-hole covering his face and a long dark green scarf covering his neck.

The girl had medium length black hair and wore a red shirt with a small Uchiha symbol on the left side, a blue skirt on top of black shorts and knee high black ninja boots.

"You're late," said the irritated girl.

"Only by two minutes," retorted Kimiko.

"Whoa. Hey you're here!" exclaimed the masked ninja, "Let's introduce ourselves! Reiko you start!"

Reiko sighed and was about to open her mouth when the boy got impatient and butted in.

"That's Reiko! She's my cousin. I'm Tobi! My favorite food is dango, my favorite cousin is Shisui, but he got transferred to Anbu..., I think Aunt Mikoto is the best aunt ever, I like meeting new people- oh! What about you?"

"Um, I'm Kimiko and I like chicken ramen," said an overwhelmed Kimiko.

"We're gonna be best friends Kimi-chan!" yelled Tobi as he hugged her.

"Hey! Let go! I can't breath!" gasped Kimiko.

As Kimiko was trying to get out of Tobi's tight hug, the little jar fell out of her weapons pouch.

"Ooh! Shiny!" exclaimed Tobi as he dived for the jar.

"Give that back!"

"But I want to see it!" whined Tobi as he held the jar out of Kimiko's reach.

"To bad! It's important to me!" said Kimiko as she grabbed the jar and Tobi fell backwards into the river.

"Ahhh! I'm drowning! Help!" yelled a flailing Tobi.

"Just stand up Tobi," advised Reiko.

Tobi stopped flailing and saw that he was sitting in shallow water.

"Oh!" said Tobi happily.

As he skipped off all wet, his stomach growled, "Let's go to lunch!" he declared.

"We're going to Uchiha Senbei," said Reiko.

* * *

As they entered the busy restaurant in the Uchiha complex, the lady behind the counter yelled, "Reiko, Tobi! Come on in! Sit any wherever you like!"

Tobi waved, "Thanks Auntie! Oh! This is my new friend, Kimiko!" he said as he pointed at her. Kimiko felt like teleporting away right then and there, but before she could Tobi grabbed her arm.

"Come sit by me Kimi-chan!" he exclaimed as he dragged her into a big booth with Reiko.

"Why do we need such a big booth? Are we waiting on someone?" Kimiko wondered aloud.

"Shisui and Itachi are coming! Reiko is Itachi's girlfriend!" Tobi whispered the last part like it was some big secret.

Reiko blushed, "Mind your own business Tobi!" demanded Reiko as she kicked him under the table.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!" yelled Tobi.

"Aw, Reiko, don't hurt Tobi. Tobi's a good boy," said a man with short black hair.

Kimiko was shocked when she saw the boy that helped her during the snake incident was standing right behind the other guy.

* * *

Itachi silently stood behind Shisui; his eyes widened slightly when he saw the girl he helped seven years ago sitting with Tobi and Reiko.

Itachi and Shisui slid into the booth.

"So you're the girl who's replacing me huh?" asked Shisui, "I'm Shisui."

"Kimiko," she said as she shook Shisui's hand.

"The quiet guy sitting next to me is Itachi," introduced Shisui as he jokingly elbowed Itachi.

"We've already meet," stated Itachi as he stared at her.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Itachi already knows Kimi-chan?"

"We meet a couple years ago," said Kimiko as she held Itachi's gaze.

"Here's your senbei!" the lady from when they walked in said happily, breaking the tension.

"Thanks Auntie Uruchi!" Tobi and Shisui exclaimed, completely forgetting about what happened seconds before as they dug in to the senbei.

Itachi and Kimiko broke their mini staring contest and started to eat.

Reiko was a little apprehensive but ate anyway because senbei was her favorite.

After that lunch was pretty normal, Shisui and Tobi goofed off and the others watched amused.

When she was finished Kimiko got up, "Thanks for the food," she said before turning to Tobi and Reiko, "I'll see you tomorrow," and with that, she left.

"Bye Kimi-chan!" Tobi and Shisui waved happily.

As soon as she was gone, Shisui turned to Itachi and asked, "So how did you already know Kimiko from before?"

"That's exactly what I was wondering," grumbled Reiko.

"She got bitten by a snake a couple years ago and I took her to the hospital. That's all."

"Promise?" said a suspicious Reiko. She had to be sure; I mean girls all over the village were after her man.

"Promise," said Itachi with a small reassuring smile.

"She seemed pretty cool," observed Shisui, "A little uptight though."

"I think she's awesome!" exclaimed Tobi.

* * *

Please review! Thanks for reading!


	6. Suna

So today's my birthday and because I'm so nice, I'm going to give you guys a new chapter as a present! YAY!

Enjoy the extra Tobi moments I put in. Some of Tobi's lines from one of those moments is directly quoted from Naruto Shippuden episode 99.

Enjoy!

Dsiclaimer: I don not own Naruto!

* * *

It was very early in the morning and still dark outside when Kimiko was woken by a rustling outside her house.

She silently formed a crystal dagger and tip-toed to the door. She was about to shove it open when-

_Knock, Knock_

She let out a breath and dematerialized her crystal dagger before opening the door.

"What do you want?" asked an irritated, sleepy Kimiko.

"The Hokage wants to see you," said an equally irritated and sleepy Kotetsu.

"Now?"

"Yeah," he said yawning.

* * *

Kimiko walked in to the Hokage's office and saw that a drowsy Reiko and an always hyper Tobi were also present.

"Kimi-chan!" exclaimed Tobi before running up to her and giving her a suffocating hug.

"Get off me," a weary Kimiko said weakly, "How can you even be this hyper? It's four o'clock in the morning."

"When Tobi is home, he always goes to bed at eight o'clock," said a proud Tobi while showing everyone a scroll with a picture of him wearing a customized Uchiha night cap asleep in bed and a clock reading eight o'clock. The picture was complete with little z's to show he was sleeping and a puffy cloud over his head to show he was dreaming.

"I think the correct question is 'How can he be an Uchiha?'" said a lethargic Reiko.

The Hokage cleared his throat and they all stood at attention.

"Now that you're all here, I have a mission for you. I need your team to take documents concerning the next chunin exams to Suna and bring back the Kazekage's reply," the Hokage announced seriously.

"That's it?" said a clearly annoyed Reiko, "You get us up at four in the morning for a D-Ranked mission?"

"The genin team I had assigned to this mission had some type of problem. I believe the sensei and one of the students injured themselves in some "youthful and vigorous training exercises" as they put it. I figured this would be a good time to test out your team dynamics. Kimiko will take the lead."

"Yes Hokage-sama," Kimiko replied respectfully.

"What!" Reiko exploded, "I've been a chunin for a whole year longer than her! I should be the leader!"

"If that's what you're basing it on then shouldn't Tobi be the leader?" piped up Kotetsu from the corner of the room.

Everyone, except Tobi who was playing with something on the Hokage's shelf, turned and looked at him skeptically.

Just then whatever Tobi was playing with was knocked off the shelf and broke on the floor.

"Ahhh!" Tobi squealed before turning his back on it and attempting to pretend he didn't have anything to do with it by trying (and failing) to whistle.

"Ok I take it back!" said Kotetsu defensively before teleporting away.

"It's just temporary. I need to evaluate Kimiko's leadership skills," assured the Hokage, "Meet outside the gates in one hour. You leave at five. Dismissed!"

* * *

It was almost noon and the group had been traveling non-stop when Tobi saw something in the distance.

"Ooh! Look at that! That place has dangos," Tobi exclaimed pointing at a small shop. "Let's take a small break!" he pleaded as he flailed excitedly, "We've been walking for like forever. I'm totally beat!" he yelled running off.

"Sure you are," grumbled Reiko.

"We might as well stop. I am getting hungry," reasoned Kimiko.

"We should keep going," insisted Reiko.

"We're already ahead of schedule," argued Kimiko, "Besides we can't not eat, we already missed breakfast."

"If I were leader we'd keep going," Reiko yelled.

"Well you're not. And just because you're mad about it doesn't mean you should take it out on Tobi and me!" Kimiko yelled back before walking away in a huff.

* * *

Finally, after three days of Tobi goofing off and many awkward tensions between Reiko and Kimiko, they made it to Suna.

Now all they hade to do was actually find the Kazekage's building, which was hard considering all the buildings were sand colored and tall.

Kimiko and Reiko were busy arguing about whether they should ask for directions or not, and Tobi? Tobi was just looking around and being Tobi.

"I'm telling you, we'd get done a lot quicker if we just asked for help!" argued an exasperated Kimiko.

"And _I'm _telling _you _we don't need directions!" yelled a frustrated Reiko.

"Face it! We're lost!"

"No we aren't!"

"If we just asked around-"

"We can find it on our own!"

Finally Kimiko got feed up and went over to a teenage girl with four pig-tails wearing a purple dress and asked, "Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Kazekage's office is? My teammates and I are kind of lost."

"I'll bet you are," she said after taking one look at the hyperactive Tobi and the fuming Reiko, "You're almost there, just take a left at the next intersection, turn right at the one after that and you're there."

"Thank you so much," said an extremely relieved Kimiko.

"No problem," said the girl as she went back to her shopping, but not without taking one more look at the strange group.

* * *

Orochimaru, under the guise of the Kazekage, was filling out paperwork when Baki came in.

"Kazekage-sama, there are three Leaf-nin here to see you," he said, "They brought papers about the Chunin Exams."

"Send them in."

On his request one boy and two girls were brought in. His eyes widened when he saw one of the girls.

"Here are all the Chunin Exam documents, Sir. As soon as we get your documents, Suna will officially qualify for the Chunin Exams in Konoha," the girl said with a pleasant facade.

"Thank you," he replied with a similar facade, "Here are the lists of Suna's contestants. We look forward to participating again this year."

The girl took the papers and they all bowed politely before leaving. He smiled and waved as they left. As soon as the door closed he dropped his hand and frowned.

"Baki, you are dismissed," he said in a serious voice.

"Yes, My Lord."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.

_The sky was red with fire and smoke. The little girl with the interesting kekkei-genkai was running after him, practically begging him to use her. Yes, she'd make a nice prospective body for later, especially if he trained her right._

_He glanced to the side for a split second and saw a young girl hiding behind a tree, staring at him with big, frightened eyes. He considered killing her as well but figured that she'd die on her own. He had better things to do with his time anyways._

_With that fleeting thought out of his head, he turned his attention back to the road and kept walking away from the dead clan's burning village._

"So, she survived after all."

* * *

Dun, Dun, Dun! The Suna and Sound Invasion of Konoha is upon us!

Yeah...this was mostly a filler...

Thank you for reading. Please review!


	7. Him

Hey guys! Guess what? It's the first fight scene of the whole story! YAY!

Tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

A Couple Months Later

Kimiko was sitting in the stands watching the finals of the Chunin Exams. She was sitting near the new genins because her teammates had to sit with all the Uchihas.

Speaking of Uchihas, Sasuke Uchiha was fighting right now. He was up against some small, redheaded Sand ninja. It was supposed to be the best fight of the exams.

Sasuke had just attacked the Sand-nin with Chidori, and everything in the arena seemed to come to a stand still.

Sasuke and the Sand ninja were facing off when little white feathers began to fall from the sky.

Kimiko looked around and saw that spectators everywhere were falling asleep.

"A genjutsu?" Kimiko wondered as she focused her chakra, "Release!"

As the feathers disappeared, a loud explosion was heard followed by a giant smoke cloud around where the Hokage was sitting.

The Anbu ran over as fast as they could while Sand and Sound ninja filled the stands and started attacking whoever managed to release the genjutsu.

Kimiko formed several hand signs before shouting, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Blade!"

Two blue blades formed on her forearms as she rushed into battle. She had just cut down another Sound ninja when she heard someone yell, "Hey, Sasuke!"

She looked over and saw a pink-headed genin cover her head as two more sound-nin came at her.

* * *

Sakura covered her head waiting for death when she heard two thuds. She peeked out expecting to see Kakashi-sensei, but instead saw a girl with blue knifes attached to her arms, balanced on the bleacher in front of hers.

"Kakashi-senpai, you should look after your students better."

"Thanks, Kimiko. Sakura, just stay there while I trim the enemy's numbers down to size," said Kakashi cheerfully.

With that said both Kakashi and Kimiko jumped off and went to battle more ninja.

* * *

Kimiko bounded off only to be confronted by four sound ninja.

"Ha. This is gonna be a piece of cake," said one.

"She's just a little girl," said another.

"I don't even wan to bother with someone so weak," sneered the third.

"I'll take care of her," smirked the last one.

"You're underestimating me," warned Kimiko as they advanced on her.

"Crystal Style: Crystal Prison!" she yelled as crystals sprang up from the ground and entrapped the sound ninja.

Just then a kunai flew past her cheek, cutting it on its way.

"Ouch," complained Kimiko as she gently touched the line of blood on her cheek. She turned around, "Crystal Style: Hexagonal Shuriken!"

Several pink snowflake-looking shuriken flew out at her attacker. He dodged the attack, "You'll have to do better than that," he laughed, "I'm not as weak as them," he said referring to the crystal encased ninja.

Kimiko smirked and held up her arm as the blue blades reappeared. She lunged at the Sound ninja who dodged left.

She kept attacking him, but couldn't seem to hit him; he just kept dodging her attacks!

"This is getting pathetic," he remarked.

"Ahhh!" Kimiko yelled angrily as she attacked him even faster. He kept backing up until his back hit a pillar.

"Gotcha!" smirked Kimiko as crystal began encasing him.

* * *

Meanwhile

"Hold still!" shouted a frustrated Sand ninja as Tobi disappeared under ground.

The sand ninja fighting him looked around frantically.

"Why?" whined Tobi as he popped up again, "It's not fair! It's...two, four, six against one!" He complained as he went underground again.

"You think this is funny?" yelled an annoyed Sand ninja.

"Quit wasting our time!" yelled another.

Tobi popped up again and all six Sand-nin charged at him, kunais raised.

"Eep!" Tobi yelled in surprise as he hurriedly dodged all of their attacks, "Whew! That was close!" he said as he wiped imaginary sweat off of his masked forehead.

* * *

Shisui used his Body Flicker Technique to teleport behind the enemy ninja one at a time and take them out.

"Tsk. This is getting out of control," he said as more kept coming.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" said Itachi as he incinerated five Sound ninja and went to attack another.

"Fine then. Ignore me." sighed Shisui as he took out another ninja.

* * *

"Come on girly."

"Give us your best shot."

"Fine. But just remember, you asked for it! Water Style: Water Wave Palm!" yelled Reiko as a strong jet of water came out of her hand, knocking her opponents over.

"Haaaa!" yelled another Sound-nin as he attacked her with a barrage of weapons from behind.

"Water Style: Water Encampment Wall!" yelled Reiko as water came up from nowhere and sprang up around her, protecting her from the man's weapons. As the water subsided, Leiko yelled out another attack, "Water Style: Paralysis Mist Jutsu!"

A green mist started to appear around Reiko and all the ninja she was fighting found that they were unable to move. Reiko smiled as she brushed her hair out of the way.

* * *

"Look the barrier!" said Gai.

"It's gone," stated Kakashi.

At that moment everyone looked up. As Kimiko raised her head to the sky, she saw Orochimaru being carried away by his team.

Her eyes widened.

_The man's skin was deathly pale, with a thin face and long black, stringy hair. But the thing that scared her most was his golden, snake-like eyes that looked inhuman and deadly._

"Orochimaru..." she whispered. It was _Him_, the man that had ruined her life. She barred her teeth and started to run after him.

* * *

Shisui and Itachi were nearby when they saw her take off.

"We have to stop her!" yelled Shisui seeing her run after Orochimaru, "She can't take him on alone!"

Itachi nodded his assent. Both off them ran after Kimiko and caught up with her on the roof.

As they held her back she yelled, "Let me go! Let go! I have to...I have to kill him!"

As they struggled to hold her back, Shisui said, "You're crazy! You can't take him on! He's stronger than you; he's one of the legendary Sanin!"

"I don't care! Let go of me!" Kimiko yelled as she struggled against their hold.

"Leave him," commanded Itachi, "You can go after him when you've gotten stronger and are able to protect yourself against ninja like him."

Kimiko froze.

_"If you want to be a ninja you should learn to protect yourself."_

"Fine," she said as she shrugged the boys off and glared at Orochimaru as he disappeared.

* * *

Orochimaru's arms felt like they were on fire, as he fled the site of the failed invasion. Looking at the battle groung, he saw numerous Sound ninja encased in pink crystal.

He looked down and saw the girl that he had let live all those years ago glaring at him as Itachi Uchiha and another ninja held her back. Her eyes were like daggers.

Suddenly there was a loud crack followed by another, and another, and still more. All of the crystals had broken into fine pieces, and with them, so had all of the sound ninja frozen in the crystals.

Orochimaru frowned, "She could prove to be quite a nuisance. I should have killed her that night," was Orochimaru's last thought as Konoha fell out of his view.

* * *

So what did you think of the fight scene?

If you have some tips on how for me to improve my fight scenes or even my writing in general, please review and leave the advice or critique.

Thank you for reading!


	8. Bodyguards

So for some reason this one was harder to get through than usual...hm...oh well, it's just a filler anyways. It's definitely not the best chapter by far.

On the good side! There is another fight scene. YAY!

By the way, all the jutsus I use in this chapter are real. Soooo...yeah...

Someone tell me why I have 143 visitors, 377 hits and only 7 reviews? Seriously guys, reviews really do help inspire me.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto!

* * *

A couple of weeks had passed since the death of the Third Hokage, and Tsunade had somewhat successfully taken over. Unfortunately even though Konoha was still rebuilding, the missions didn't stop. In fact there seemed to be more missions than usual.

Everyone who wasn't in the critical center of the hospital had at _least_ a D-Ranked mission.

Reiko, Tobi, and Kimiko stood before the new Hokage as she read out their next mission.

"You're next mission is to escort the nephew of the Daimyo of the Country of Forests back home," she said, "Izumo! Bring in our guest!"

The door slid open to reveal a young boy around the age of eight.

"This is Kentaro, take good care of him, we don't need any more political problems," warned Tsunade, "The mission should take about five days each way. You leave in an hour. Dismissed!"

* * *

They were about thirty minutes out of Konoha when Kentaro spoke up, "I'm tired"

"Well, try to deal with it," said Reiko.

"We still have a long way to go," added Kimiko.

A few seconds after staring at a hyperactive Tobi, Kentaro asked, "Why's he so weird?"

Tobi stopped suddenly as if a big weight had been just fallen on him.

"No one really knows. We've been trying to figure that out for a long time," Reiko answered.

Tobi dropped his head and pouted.

"I'm not weird...Tobi's a good boy! Shisui said so!" protested Tobi.

"Well, Shisui is Shisui."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Reiko sighed heavily.

Silence followed.

"I'm bored," whined Kentaro, "You'd think traveling with a bunch of ninja would be more exciting or at least more fun."

"If you want fun then go play with Tobi."

This time it was Kentaro's turn to pout.

* * *

All the while, Kimiko was busy thinking about three weeks ago when she saw Orochimaru for the first time since she was eight. She balled her fists, just thinking about him made her on edge.

"I'm tired!" yelled Kentaro as he sat down, "I'm not gonna walk any more!"

"We haven't even gone twenty miles yet!" exclaimed Reiko.

Kentaro gave Reiko a funny look as Kimiko walked over to him.

"Get up."

Kentaro shook the look off his face and defiantly replied, "No!"

"This is your last chance, get up."

Kentaro forcefully shook his head, "No! I won't walk any more today!"

"Tobi, get him," ordered Kimiko.

"Ok!" Tobi said as he cheerfully picked up Kentaro and swung him over his shoulder.

"Hey! You can't treat me like this!" Kentaro yelled while punching and kicking at Tobi.

"You can't just treat the nephew of a Daimyo like that!" Reiko shouted at Kimiko.

"He was wasting our time and I was getting feed up with him."

"He's our charge! You can't do that!"

"I can and will do whatever I want to do."

* * *

Meanwhile it some trees not far away, four rogue ninja were hiding. They had been waiting for the travelers for some time now.

"There he is!" whispered one.

"Oh, we're going to get so much money from the ransom on this job!" another said excitedly.

"The ninja guarding him aren't even paying attention to him!" remarked the third.

"I say we make our move now!" said the last one before they all ran in the direction of the group.

* * *

Kimiko was in the middle of arguing with Leiko when she noticed something was wrong. She could tell from Reiko's eyes that she knew too.

Suddenly, four rogue ninja jumped them seemingly out of nowhere.

"Tobi take care of the client!" both girls ordered as they jumped into action.

"Ahh! Don't let them get me!" yelled Kentaro as Tobi tried to make his way out of the fight without getting Kentaro hurt or in the way of the flying weapons.

Kimiko used her crystal shuriken to pin down one ninja and started going hand-to-hand with another.

Reiko used her senbon and some of her medical skills to incapacitate one ninja with acupuncture, before moving on to the next ninja.

Kimiko threw more crystal shuriken at her next opponent, but his hands were lighting fast as he made his hand signs and he yelled, "Fire Style: Blazing Shuriken Dance" and countered it before Kimiko's shuriken could reach him with his own hundreds of flaming shuriken.

At the same time, Reiko quickly made some hand signs and yelled, "Water Style: Water Whip!" and attacked her enemy with a whip made out of water only to be stopped when the ninja made several hand signs and shouted, "Earth Style: Earth Dome!" and protected himself with a thick wall of rock.

Kimiko and Reiko backed up until they came back-to-back. The rogue ninja closed in on them ready to deal the final blow.

At the last second, the girls switched places and took the other's opponent.

The earth user tried to protect himself again, but Kimiko used his jutsu against him, and turned his protective rock dome into a crystal cage.

The fire type ninja used Blazing Shuriken Dance again, but Reiko rapidly made some hand signs and shouted, "Water Style: Tearing Torrent!" and a powerful jet of water came out of her hand and blew the shuriken and the enemy ninja away.

"Yay! We won!" Tobi rejoiced.

"We? Who's 'we'?" demanded Reiko, "_You_ didn't do anything. Kimiko and I took all of them out, not _you_."

Tobi once again started pouting, "But I protected Kentaro, neither of you did that!"

Reiko and Kimiko gave him a funny look.

Tobi was about to say something, when Reiko cut him off, "You know what? Never mind. Ok?"

"Wow! That was so cool!" said an awe struck Kentaro from atop Tobi's shoulders, "You guys are so strong and brave. I'm sooooo gonna be a ninja when I grow up!"

"Good luck with that kid," Kimiko said sarcastically knowing that the Daimyo would never let that happen. As they chatted, they all walked off leaving all four of the rogue ninja unconscious or trapped behind them.

* * *

Yay for fillers and whoever managed stayed and finish this particular filler!

Thanks for reading!

I love all 140 something of you for reading this, but really, ONLY 7 REVIEWS? Come on guys!


	9. Friends

Hey guys! one more chapter and I'll be in the double digits! Exciting!

**Important note: A nice reviewer named Tettsui brought it to my attention that Leiko is not a real Japanese name. No I was confused because I found the name on a Japanese name site, so I went back to check it. Turns out the site had a typo of something, but the name Leiko or more specifically the letter L doesn't exist in Japan. **

**So Leiko is now Reiko**

Thank you for your help Tettsui!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Tobi, Reiko and Kimiko were closing in on Konoha after their long mission when Reiko suddenly sped up for no apparent reason.

"Reiko, what is it?" asked Kimiko as she and Tobi tried to keep up with Reiko's speed.

"Ita-" she started to say happily until she saw who he was carrying, "...chi."

By then Kimiko and Tobi had caught up with Reiko and could see that Itachi and Kakashi were carrying Sasuke and Naruto on their backs and were surrounded my medic-nin.

"Kakashi-senpai?" questioned a puzzled Kimiko.

"Sasuke! Are you ok? What happened! What did I miss?" Tobi asked in alarm.

Sasuke looked away dismally so Kakashi spoke up, "While you three were on you're mission, Orochimaru's Sound Four came and kidnapped Sasuke. The Sound four were disposed of, but Neji Hyuuga, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara all got injured. The Heaven Seal Orochimaru gave Sasuke at the Chunin Exams caused him to attack Naruto. Luckily they're both alive."

"What's their condition?' Reiko asked professionally.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba are going to pull through," responded the Head Medic-nin, "But Choji and Neji could go either way.

Once they reached the Hospital, Reiko was rushed away to help with the patients, and Tobi and Itachi were with Sasuke. Kimiko couldn't do anything but sit outside the room and wait. She didn't even know these people, but somehow she just felt like it would be wrong to leave without knowing that everyone was going to be ok.

* * *

Tsunade came out of Sasuke's room and saw Kimiko sitting there. She smiled, "Everyone's stable now. You can go in and see them now if you want."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," said Kimiko as she got up and started to leave.

"Kimiko, wait," said Tsunade, "I have a new mission for you."

Kimiko stopped walking, "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but my team is currently preoccupied."

"This isn't a mission for you're team, it's a mission for you," clarified Tsunade, "The Sand ninja that assisted us in the Sasuke Retrieval mission will be staying in the village for a while. I'd like you to be their guide while they're here. Will you take the mission?"

Kimiko thought for a moment, before replying, "Yes."

"Good, they're staying at the Leaf Hotel for Visiting Ninja. You can meet them there. They're staying in room 245"

* * *

"Room 245. This must be it," said Kimiko indifferently as she knocked on the door.

A blonde headed girl with four pigtails opened the door.

"Hey, isn't that-" thought Kimiko as she furrowed her brow.

The girl looked at her, "Hey! Aren't you that girl that I gave directions to? The one with the weird teammates?"

"...yeah," answered Kimiko, "I'm supposed to be your guide during your stay here."

"Oh, cool," Temari smiled, "Gaara's off some where, but he's kind of a loner, so you don't have to worry about him. Hey Kankuro!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"What'dya want? I'm busy!" came a male voice from further in the room.

"Our guide's here!"

"So?"

"So get your butt in here!"

"I said I'm busy!"

"Guess you just have me then. Kankuro's to busy playing with his precious puppets," Temari whispered.

"I am _not _'playing' with them! I'm cleaning and restoring them!"

"Yeah, _sure_!" Temari yelled back sarcastically.

"So where do you want to go first?" Kimiko asked.

Temari's stomach growled, "Do you know any good places to eat? I'm starving," she said as she rubbed her hungry belly.

* * *

After a satisfying but slightly awkward lunch of chicken and tofu ramen at Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, Temari spoke up, "You're kind of uptight aren't you?"

Kimiko just shrugged her shoulders.

"That's it!" yelled Temari as her pointed to Kimiko, "Before I leave, I'm gonna make you a fun and happy person!"

"Really, I'm fine with how I am."

"But you won't make any friends this way!"

"Who says I need friends."

"I do!"

"To bad for you"

"I know! I'll fight you for it!"

"What?"

"I'll fight you for it. If I win you have to let me help you open up to people and if you win I have to leave you alone."

Kimiko considered Temari's proposition, "You're on"

* * *

Temari and Kimiko stood at opposite ends of the training ground.

"The first to give up or be unable to fight loses. Got it?" said Temari.

Kimiko nodded, determined not to lose.

"Ready," Temari started.

"Set," Kimiko continued.

"GO!" both shouted as they leapt towards each other.

As always Kimiko started by throwing her crystal shuriken at her opponent.

"Ha!" said Temari as she took out her fan and blew the shuriken away like they were feathers, "You'll have to do much better that that if you want to beat me! Your little shuriken won't work!"

"Damn!" Kimiko thought, "My crystal type chakra is weak against wind type chakra!" aloud she said, "Fine! If my 'little' shuriken won't work, then try this on for size! Crystal Style: Giant Hexagonal Shuriken!"

At that moment a shuriken about the size of a human appeared in her hand and she threw it at Temari with as much force as she could muster.

"Whoa! That thing's enormous!" thought Temari as she opened her fan up all the way and blew the shuriken away just in time. Temari jumped up onto a tree branch, "Wind Scythe Jutsu!" she yelled as a whirlwind of air attacked Kimiko.

As Kimiko jumped away from the whirlwind coming towards her she yelled, "Crystal Style: Crimson Fruit!" and a dome of crystal surrounded her, protecting her from the whirlwind that was now surrounding the dome.

"She's good," thought Temari, "I'll have to kick this up a notch.

"This isn't working," Kimiko thought, "I need to get closer!" Suddenly a splintering noise broke her out of her thoughts, "No the crystal's breaking!"

As the crystal dome broke, Kimiko made crystal platform raise her up the center of the whirlwind. When she jumped out she yelled, "Crystal Style: Crystal Needles!"

Temari stood there with her fan infront of her waiting for something to come shooting at her but nothing happened. Then she heard a splintering sound and looked up. Above her were a bunch of crystal stalactites getting ready to fall on her.

"No!" gasped Temari as the first stalactite began to fall. She hurriedly backed up, but they just kept following her. Then out of nowhere Kimiko popped up behind her with a blue crystal blade.

"Ahhh!" yelled Kimiko as she swung at Temari

"How?" stammered Temari. As she jumped far away from Kimiko, Kimiko managed to cut her with the blade.

As Temari stood up she said, "Well, you're much better than I thought you'd be. Hm, you're forcing me to use one of my best jutsus."

Temari bit her thumb and smeared the blood on her fan, she swung it back and yelled, "Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" then she brought it forward and a great gust of wind blew forward, cutting trees down on it's way to Kimiko.

"No! I won't let you win!" Kimiko yelled, " Crystal Style: Crimson Fruit!" Once again a crystallized dome grew up around Kimiko, but this time the wind broke through it much quicker.

"Ahhh!" Kimiko screamed as the wind cut at her.

* * *

Kimiko woke up five minutes later to see Temari standing over her smiling, "Good fight," she said as she held out her hand.

Kimiko smiled back and took her hand, "Yeah...It was fun," she replied.

"You know what me winning means don't you," said Temari, stating the sentence more than asking it.

"Yeah, I know," said Kimiko.

"Great! This'll be fun, I promise," Temari guaranteed cheerfully, and for the first time in seven years, Kimiko didn't shudder at the words 'I promise'.

"Yeah," Kimiko thought, "Maybe it will be."

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review if you have time!


	10. Preparation

Yay! I made the double digits! Woot!

So this is a shorter one and it's not as fast paced as the last chapter, but I think it's a nice little lead in to the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Ages:

Kimiko 18

Temari 18

Reiko 19

Itachi 20

Tobi 20

Shisui 22

* * *

Three Years Later

Two jonin happily walked down the streets of Konoha, heading for Ichiraku's Ramen Bar.

"Thanks for helping me train for the Anbu Exams," said Kimiko, "I know how busy you are being an ambassador and all."

"Don't worry, about it!" said Temari as they entered Ichiraku's, "I was bored anyways, and besides you're treating me! Two bowls of chicken and tofu ramen please."

"I never said I was treating you!" Kimiko protested.

"Too late now," teased Temari, "I already ordered _and_ I didn't bring any money."

Kimiko sighed

* * *

Tsunade looked up as Itachi and Shisui teleported into the room, "We've gotten many applications for Anbu this year. As an Anbu captain, Itachi, I expect you to look through all of the applications and eliminate any applicants you think don't make the cut. You and Shisui will then do background checks and whatever else you feel you need to check on the rest the applicants and then give the applications that make the final cut to me," Tsunade explained, "Is that understood?"

"Yes Lord Hokage," they chorused.

"Good. You are dismissed," she said, and the two shinobi turned to leave.

Once they were out of sight Tsunade started snickering and pulled out a bottle of sake.

* * *

Temari stood up, "I'd better go. I have another boring meeting."

"You mean another boring meeting with _Shikamaru?_" Kimiko teased.

"Oh ha, ha, very funny, "Temari yelled over her shoulder as she walked away.

* * *

Itachi was looking through the Anbu applications when Shisui came in.

"Hey cuz! Is it time for my job yet?" he asked.

"I'm not finished yet Shisui, I'll call when I am," answered Itachi.

Shisui pouted and silence followed by the occasional flip of papers ensued.

* * *

Kakashi looked up from reading _Icha Icha Paradise_ to see Kimiko standing there.

"Oh, hi Kimiko. Can I help you with something?" asked Kakashi pleasantly.

"You're supposed to meet me at Training Ground 3 in ten minutes," she answered.

"So, why are you here if I'm not supposed to meet you for ten minutes?"

"It takes ten minutes to get from here to there, and I knew you were planning on being late, so I came to get you.

"Really Kimiko, I'm hurt. You don't trust me enough to meet you on time?"

Kimiko gave him an incredulous look.

* * *

Shisui wandered back into the room, "Ready now?" he asked.

A bird chirped outside the window.

"No," Itachi replied.

Shisui blew a piece of his hair out of his face in a frustrated huff.

* * *

"Ahhhh!" yelled Kimiko as she threw several punches at Kakashi.

"You're to obvious, try a less direct approach," coached Kakashi as he dodged her attacks.

"You mean like this?" Kakashi heard from behind him.

"What?" he thought as he turned around to see a clone of Kimiko in the process of kicking him.

He hastily put his arms up to defend himself.

* * *

Itachi approached Shisui who was lazing about on the couch.

"It's time for your job now," he said.

Immediately Shisui jumped up, "Yeah!" he shouted as he grabbed the applications that made it through Itachi's elimination process, "Let's see who we have here..."

Itachi stood their quietly waiting for Shisui to satisfy his curiosity.

"Hey look! Kimiko applied!" exclaimed Shisui, "Come on! Let's check up on her first!"

Shisui took off in a purposeful stride with Itachi following behind.

"I know! We can ask her team what they think of her," suggested Shisui, "I'll take Tobi and you can take Reiko."

* * *

Kakashi hopped back onto a pond, his hands flying at a rate no human eye could follow, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" he yelled as a giant dragon rose up out of the water.

"Two can play at that game, Kakashi-senpai," remarked Kimiko as she formed three hand signs, "Crystal Style: Burst Crystal Dragon!"

Suddenly a crystal dragon began to materialize across from the water dragon. Both dragons attacked each other head on and crashed into each other. Small droplets of water and crystal particles rained down as the two shinobi began fighting hand-to-hand.

* * *

"Hey Tobi!" yelled Shisui when he finally found Tobi at the Uchiha Senbei shop.

"Hey Shisui! Wanna join me?" Tobi yelled back, "This senbei is so yummy!"

"Sure," said Shisui as he sat down, "Hey Tobi..."

"Hmm?" Tobi asked with his mouth stuffed full of senbei.

"What can you tell me about Kimiko?"

"Oh! She's sooo fun! When she first started she was kinda ehh, but now she's great thanks to Temari-chan!"

"I meant 'what can you tell me about her working with you guys,'" clarified Shisui.

"Well, she and Reiko always fight, but I think Kimiko is awesome. She's a really good fighter, her crystal stuff is soooo coooool! I wish I could do that! And she's really smart and stuff!"

"Okay, thanks Tobi," said Shisui as he started to eat a senbei.

* * *

"Reiko," Reiko turned around to see Itachi standing at the gate.

"Hey Itachi," she said as she got up to hug him, "What is it?'

"I need you to tell me about how well Kimiko works with your team." said Itachi as he sat on the bench she was previously sitting on.

"Why?"

"Anbu applications."

"Oh," said Reiko, "Well, we always seem to be arguing, but it's not like we hate each other, it just happens. I mean we aren't like best friends either, but we do work really well together. She's a good strategist and I'm sure her kekkei genkai will be a very valuable skill for the Anbu Black ops to use."

"Thank you," said Itachi as he leaned over and pecked her on the cheek.

"Where are you going?" asked Reiko when he got up to leave.

"I still have eleven more applicants to check up on," he said.

* * *

"That's enough," panted Kakashi, "I'd say you'd be a very formidable opponent for whoever you fight against in the Anbu Exams."

Kimiko smiled, got out of her fighting stance and rubbed some blood off of her mouth.

"Bring it on."

* * *

Next chapter is about the Anbu exams.

Thanks for reading!

Please Review!


	11. Start!

It's the long awaited first part of the Anbu Exams! *people cheering in the back ground* Thank you, thank you!

Actually, it was hard to find a way to start this, but I think it turned out pretty good. You can tell me what you think in the reviews. It's always nice to hear from my readers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Kimiko and eleven other shinobi stood in the middle of a small arena waiting for their proctor.

The air was tense, the shinobi in that room were some of the most lethal shinobi of that generation, and they were all competing against each other for the three open slots in the Anbu Black Ops.

Just then, a man clad in standard issued Anbu armor teleported in.

"Hello," he said formally, "My name is Ushi. The reason that all of you are standing here right now is because the Hokage and two of our finest operatives have deemed all of you worthy of becoming part of the Anbu Black Ops. Unfortunately there can only be a certain number of Anbu, or else it would be too easy for enemy ninja to figure out who our Anbu members are. You all bring many great skills to the table, but there are only three open slots. In order to eliminate some of you, there will be a series of private one-on-one battles where only the proctors will watch the two competitors fight."

Ushi took out a chart, "When I call your name, come up and take a piece of paper with your match details on it. The opponents are as follows: Round 1, Arashi vs. Chiya..."

A brown haired man with a red scarf and a redheaded girl with two katana strapped to her back stepped forward and took their slips of paper.

"Round 2, Daiki vs. Genji..."

A tall man with a scar on his left cheek and a man with a massive amount of muscles stepped forward.

"Round 3, Hachi vs. Itsuko..."

Two women stepped up. One had many scrolls strapped to her back and the other had weapon summoning tattoos all along her arms.

"Round 4, Reiji vs. Norio..."

A man wearing his forehead protector over his eyes and a man wearing a bandana-style forehead protector and glasses went to get their slips of paper.

"Round 5, Kimiko vs. Ryou..."

Kimiko went up to get her slip of paper. On her way back, she assessed her opponent. He had brown spiky hair and wore a dark jacket. He looked fairly strong, but Kimiko knew that his body type was meant to be agile and quick. He carried no weapon that she could see.

He noticed that she was observing him and looked over. Their eyes meet for a second, he was challenging her.

"And lastly, Round 6, Tatsu vs. Wataru."

The two ninja that went up were both men. One was bald and muscled and the other was dark haired and intelligent looking, a natural strategist.

Kimiko broke her staring contest with Ryou to get the rest of the instructions.

"The six of you that make it through the battles will then get to fight a member of the Anbu. The first opponents please step up, the rest of you go wait in the other room," said Ushi.

* * *

The ten of them filed into a small room with couches and a small T.V. but everyone was to tense to watch. They all sat very far apart from each other, each had his own little space.

Kimiko sat on the window sill and stared outside.

About five minutes after they arrived, Arashi came back in, "Round 2 people, your up," he smiled.

"So the girl lost, huh," said Genji.

"Yup!" smiled Arashi, "But whoo! Did that girl know how to use katana! I almost lost a hand!"

Every now and then one person would return and two would leave. As it got closer to her turn, Kimiko put her hand in her weapons pouch and clutched her small jar of crystal powder.

"I'm one step closer to being strong enough to get Guren back, Mikomi," she thought.

Reiji came back in and said, "Hey, Round 5. You're up."

Kimiko rose from the window sill.

* * *

Kimiko entered the arena from the north side as Ryou entered from the south and they met in the middle.

"Hey, no hard feelings when I win, alright?" smirked Ryou.

"Ok, just keep that in mind, you'll need it to console yourself once I've won," countered Kimiko.

"Ryou laughed, "I've worked hard for this and I'm not losing to you now."

"To bad for you, 'cause I'm not gonna lose," said Kimiko as she got into her fighting stance.

"Ready," said Ushi as he looked at both of them, "Start!"

Kimiko leapt forward at Ryou, already materializing her crystal blade.

Ryou dodged her blade over and over as he pulled out a kunai and blew on it, turning it into a Kunai Wind Blade.

"So he's wind type huh?" thought Kimiko as she jumped back, "I'm that case, I need to immobilize him and make sure he can't get to far away from me.

"Crystal Style: Crystal Prison!" she yelled as crystal began forming around Ryou's feet.

His eyes widen as he hurried to jump out of the crystals' reach.

"What kind of jutsu is that?" he exclaimed.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" responded Kimiko somewhat smugly, "Crystal Style: Wild Shuriken Dance!"

Crystal shurikens began forming in the air and hurling themselves at Ryou, who quickly snapped himself out of his momentary shock.

He quickly formed some hand signs and blew a great gust of wind out of his moth that knocked all of the shuriken away.

Ryou then formed one hand sign and said, "Wind Style: Gale Force!"

A giant sphere of air began to compress itself until it exploded into a giant blast.

Kimiko hurriedly formed a thick crystal sphere around herself in an attempt to take away some of the force of the blast, but the crystal shattered and Kimiko got blown back several feet.

A giant cloud of dust covered the arena. Seconds passed and nothing happened.

"Well?" said Ryou impatiently, "Call it already. There's no way anyone could still fight after that attack."

"I have to wait for definite proof that the opponent is unable to continue fighting before I can call the match," stated Ushi.

Finally the dust began to settle.

"What!" shouted Ryou when the dust had cleared and Kimiko was no where to be seen.

"I'm not that easy to get rid of," said a voice behind Ryou.

"It can't be!" yelled Ryou in denial.

"Crystal Style: Growing Crystal Thorns!" shouted Kimiko as Crystal began to materialize around Ryou again.

"That won't work. I'll just keep dodging it!" taunted Ryou as he jumped into the air.

"What? No!" he said as the crystal kept following him. He desperately tried to escape the growing crystal, but it kept following him wherever he went.

"I won't lose!" he yelled, "Wind Style: Wind Blade!"

A forceful gust of wind shattered the crystal, but as Ryou was falling, the crystal grew back up again and stabbed his back as he fell.

As he hung there more crystal surrounded his body until he was completely covered.

Kimiko looked over at Ushi, "Well? Do you need more 'definite proof' or are you going to call the match?"

Ushi cleared his throat, "Kurisutaru Kimiko is the winner of this match. Please return to the waiting room while the last match is being held."

As Kimiko walked away, the crystal dematerialized and Ryou fell to the ground.

Walking down the hallway, she could hear Ushi say, "Yamada Ryou, please report to the medic station to be healed. After that you may return home."

* * *

Kimiko entered the waiting room, "Round 6 you're up," she said.

After every one had fought, Ushi came into the room. The six that were left were Arashi, Daiki, Itsuko, Reiji, Kimiko, and Wataru.

"Congratulations," said Ushi, "You have made it to the final round. Tonight you can rest up, tomorrow you will meet me back here and I will assign you to the Anbu member you will be fighting. You don't have to win that match to become Anbu. We'll mostly be assessing your skills. After that, all of the Anbu you fought and I will have a meeting to determine our new members. Before you leave, stop by the medic station and get healed. You are dismissed."

* * *

Thanks for reading guys! Please review!

Next time: Anbu Exams part two (except I'll think of a better chapter title)


	12. Finals

The Anbu Exams come to a close. Personally I think that the Anbu Exams were a good two chapters, but I guess I'll let you decide that.

Review if you like it. If you don't, review and tell me what you think I could improve on.

Disclaimer: Naruto Does Not Belong To Me!

* * *

It was the next day, and Kimiko was back in the same arena with eleven other people once again. The only difference this time was that six of them were Anbu Black ops, and all of the Anbu were wearing their standard Anbu uniform. Among them were Shisui and Itachi.

When Shisui saw Kimiko he waved excitedly and gave her a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes at his completely care-free demeanor.

Once again Ushi stepped forward to explain things, "Today each of you will be fighting one of the Anbu members you see here today. Remember, it doesn't matter if you lose or win; we're just assessing your skills. The individual fights will proceed like yesterday's fights. Round 1 is Reiji vs. Mitsuo..."

Reiji and Mitsuo, an Anbu with medium length spiky brown hair, nodded that they understood.

"Round 2 is Wataru vs. Shisui..."

"Good luck to you!" said Shisui to his opponent. Wataru nodded, already beginning to come up with a battle strategy.

"Round 3 is Daiki vs. Itachi..."

Itachi nodded his assent and Daiki stood there sizing up his opponent.

"Round 4 is Kimiko vs. Torao..."

Kimiko and the Anbu with short brown hair nodded.

"Round 5 is Arashi vs. Yugao..."

The purple-haired female Anbu nodded.

"Ha!" laughed Arashi, "Looks like I get all the pretty opponents!"

"And lastly, Round 6 is Itsuko vs. Kage."

Itsuko and another brown haired Anbu nodded their assent.

"The first group, please step forward. Everyone else, go to your designated waiting room."

* * *

All the Anbu turned to leave to another waiting room overlooking the arena, and all the applicants turned to go to their waiting room from yesterday.

As they left Shisui went up to Kimiko and said, "Hey, good luck out there."

Kimiko nodded seriously and said, "Yeah, you too."

Trying to lighten the mood Shisui slapped her on the back and said, "What are you talking about? I don't need luck! I'm just that good!"

"Shisui, come on," said Itachi from the door. His eyes then moved to Kimiko, "Show me how strong you've gotten since we first meet," he challenged.

Kimiko meet his gaze head on, "You bet."

A confused Shisui kept looking back and forth from Itachi to Kimiko trying to figure out what was going on, when he noticed that they both had left.

"Hey! Wait for me!" he yelled as he ran after Itachi.

* * *

If the atmosphere in the small room was tense yesterday then today it was just unbearable, and it got even worse after every person got back from their fight.

Kimiko was so on edge that when Daiki came in saying it was her turn; she almost threw crystal shuriken at his neck.

But, instead she calmly got up and walked through the hallway to the arena. While she entered from the north door, Torao entered from the south.

Today there was no witty banter between the fighters, no taunts, not even a challenging glance. This was serious, and Kimiko knew that she couldn't treat this fight like the one from yesterday.

This time when Ushi said start, instead of rushing her opponent, Kimiko hid in the foliage and waited to see what he'd do.

"If you're just gonna hide, then I guess that I'll have to eliminate all of you're hiding spaces," said Torao as he made some hand signs, "Fire Style: Fire Tiger Explosion!"

A giant tiger made out of fire appeared, walked to the most heavily wooded area of the arena and exploded.

"Damn!" thought Kimiko as she used her crimson fruit jutsu to protect herself, "he's a fire type."

As the flames washed over the crystal it began to disintegrate.

* * *

A Few Seconds Later

Kimiko came out of the rubble with her hands in the air, "Alright you got me. No more hiding."

Just as she finished those words, a crystal clone of her came out and attacked Torao from behind.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Hound!" yelled Torao as a Lightning bolt in the shape of a dog came out of his hand and bit the clone, which then crumbled into a crystal dust.

"Shit!" thought Kimiko, "He's got Fire and Lightning styles. My Crystal Style won't do any good against those! I have to get close enough to attack him with Taijutsu. I just need to keep him busy. Crystal Style: Growing Crystal Thorns!"

As crystal thorns began to attack him, Kimiko worked her way closer.

"Fire Style: Roaring Flame Sphere!" yelled Torao as a meteor sized fire ball hurtled towards the growing crystals and disintegrated them completely.

By that time, Kimiko had come up behind him and activated her Jade Crystal Blade jutsu.

"Haaa!" she yelled as she swung at him. Unfortunately he moved just in time and only got a shallow cut on his back.

He immediately retaliated with, "Lightning Style: Earth Flash," and a surge of lightning came out of his hands and electrocuted Kimiko.

"Ahhh!" she screamed. She fell to the ground as the lightning passed through her.

Ushi was about to call the match when a crystal wall started growing up around Torao.

While Kimiko got up Torao destroyed the wall with a Fireball jutsu. He then shouted, "Ninja Art: Thunder Dragon Tornado!" The sky flashed and a giant electrical dragon came out of the sky and went to attack Kimiko who countered it with her Burst Crystal Dragon.

Both Dragons charged at each other, but the crystal dragon crumbled away.

The electrical dragon headed straight for Kimiko and crashed into her. When the smoke cleared all that was left was a pile of crystal dust.

Suddenly two thuds were heard and Torao coughed up a little blood. Two crystal shuriken were lodged in his back. He turned around and saw that Kimiko was lunging at him with a giant crystal spear, so he quickly formed several hand signs and yelled, "Lightning Style: Four Pillar Trap!"

Four stone pillars rose out of the ground around Kimiko and started electrocuting her. She screamed out in pain as her spear crumbled to the ground, "I...can't...lose...this! I have...to...break the...pillars," she thought.

Slowly the pillars began crystallizing until finally they broke. Kimiko fell to the ground. She tried to get up, but everything was getting fuzzy and her body felt like it was screaming at her. Slowly, she blacked out from the pain.

"Torao wins," announced Ushi.

Up in the waiting room over looking the arena, four Anbu sat in awe of what they had just seen.

Shisui was the only one up and he had his face close to the glass, "That shouldn't be possible. She was in all that pain and still managed to break the pillars..."

Itachi just sat there, surprised at how much the prideful little girl that he met in the woods had grown.

* * *

After all the battles had been finished, the Anbu gathered in their waiting room and discussed who they thought should make Anbu.

"Reiji?" asked Ushi.

"He'd be a good tracker-nin," said Mitsuo, he could find me no matter how well I hid."

"He's got good instincts," agreed Kage.

"Wataru?" asked Ushi.

"He'd make a good strategist," said Shisui seriously.

"You could tell that he had planed everything he did out," added Itachi.

"Hm," agreed Ushi, "Even when Shisui did weird stuff, he retaliated quickly. He must have been thinking three steps ahead. What about Daiki?"

"He's strong, but slightly reckless," analyzed Itachi.

"He's got good instincts though," added Yugao.

"What about Kimiko?" asked Ushi.

The room was silent for a moment.

"I've never seen a jutsu like that before in my whole life," remarked a now healed Torao, "Even though it was weak against my chakra types; she still managed to put up a good fight."

"She was very impressive, agreed Mitsuo, "but she could have gotten herself killed. She needs to know when to give up."

"If she were on an important mission that couldn't be allowed fail and the choice was fight until you get killed or give up, that would be a good trait," reasoned Itachi.

"Or it could just mean that she's too reckless, and that could damage the team," said Ushi, "Now what about Arashi?"

"He's too confident in his abilities, one day that'll get him killed," said Yugao.

"You just don't like him 'cause he flirted with you," teased Shisui

"He's a skilled kid," said Kage.

"Itsuko?" asked Ushi.

"That girl has a lot of weapons and she knows how to use them," said Kage.

"She is quite formidable," remarked Torao, "She'd also be a good spy."

"Yeah, she was really good at hiding. It was hard finding her!" exclaimed Kage.

"So do we know who our new members are now?" asked Ushi.

Everyone nodded their heads.

* * *

Finished! This chapter took awhile, It's my second longest!

Now that she's an Anbu, we're getting closer to the main plot! GASP!

Oh, and I have exams in like two weeks, so I might not be able to update as much.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Please Review!


	13. Accepted

Finished! And it's the longest chapter yet! I swear, It was almost impossible to get this down. So much keept getting in the way...

There's a smidge of foreshadowing in there see if you can find it if you want.

I'd like to give a special thank you to Tettsui and Katarina Wolffe who have reviewed every chapter and given me planty of constructive feedback. Thanks guys.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

When Kimiko woke up, her whole body was sore and there was a medic-nin standing over her.

The medic-nin was looking at something on a clipboard when he noticed her.

"Oh! You woke up faster than we expected you to," he said, "We just finished healing you, so your skin is still going to be a little tender..."

As the man talked, Kimiko slowly sat up and started getting off of the cot.

"...you should be ok to move in about half an hour, then you can return to the waiting room while the Anbu members deliberate-," the man stopped as he noticed Kimiko sitting up, "Wait! You're not ready to move yet! You're skin! It's very tender!"

Kimiko winced as she set her feet on the floor, "I'm not waiting around here. I don't like hospitals or anything resembling them," she stated as she started to walk gingerly.

"But you-" the medic-nin began to protest until he was silenced by a glare from Kimiko.

He gulped as she left the room, "That's the last time I cover anyone's shift for the Anbu Exams," he muttered.

* * *

The door to the waiting room opened and all the Anbu applicants watched as Kimiko limped over to her seat on the window sill.

The room was filled with awkward silence when suddenly, the seven members of the Anbu Black Ops teleported in.

"We've come to a decision," announced Ushi.

Everyone's attention turned to Ushi and the stone-faced Anbu behind him.

"Congratulations Wataru..."

Wataru smirked and folded his bruised arms.

"Itsuko..."

Itsuko smiled and pushed a piece of her now unruly hair behind her ear.

"...and Kimiko, you've all made the rank of Anbu."

Kimiko let out a sigh of relief and for a moment, in her happiness, her pain seemed to leave her.

Reiji, Daiki, and Arashi were visibly disappointed, but were mature and congratulated the new Anbu members...well actually Arashi was just trying to get a date with Itsuko.

"You may now return to your homes and recuperate," continued Ushi, "Our new Anbu members will receive the standard Anbu mask, uniform, and two katanas. You will be notified of whose team you will be on at a later date. You are free to leave."

Shisui and Itachi walked over to Kimiko.

"Hey Kiddo! Congrats! You're one of us now!" said Shisui excitedly.

"Don't call me Kiddo. I'm only five years younger than you," Kimiko protested weakly.

"You were impressive out there," complimented Itachi

"Don't be so reserved Itachi!" exclaimed Shisui, "She was amazing! She's gotten so much stronger than the last time I saw her!"

"Thanks, guys," said a still hurting Kimiko, "Do you mind if I leave you now. I'd really like to get home."

"You should go to the hospital and have Fusa-san take a look at you," commented Itachi.

"I've already been healed, and you should know better than anyone that I don't like hospitals," Kimiko deadpanned.

"Yeah!" laughed Shisui, "I'm sure Reiko's been complaining to you for years about how Kimiko refuses to go to the hospital!"

"Have it your way then," said Itachi.

"Well, I guess I'll see you two later then," said Kimiko somewhat awkwardly as she teleported out of the room.

* * *

Three Days Later

After three days of resting, Kimiko was feeling better and was enjoying her opportunity to sleep in.

She was having a nice cat nap with warm sun streaming through the window and hitting her face when she heard the sound of a loud knock at the door.

"Uugh," she groaned as she rolled over hoping that whoever was at her door would just go away.

Sadly, the knocking did not stop. If anything, it got louder.

Kimiko slowly got up and trudged towards the door when it burst open and Temari walked in like she owned the place.

"Hey! I heard you made Anbu! Congrats! I knew you could do it," boasted Temari.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw a disgruntled Kimiko still in her pajamas.

"What are you still doing dressed like that!" exclaimed Temari, "You have a break until they put you in a team, there's a festival tonight, and you're still in you're PJs?"

"Well, because I _am_ on a break, maybe I decided to sleep in!" defended Kimiko grumpily, "What are you doing here anyways?"

"There's a festival and as an ambassador between Konoha and Suna, I have a duty to attend any and all festivals here," explained Temari.

"Yeah I get that," said Kimiko yawning, "What I asked is what are you doing here? You know, in my house?"

"Maybe I just wanted to see my best friend," pouted Temari.

Kimiko gave her a 'yeah right' look.

"Ok fine, I wanted to get ready for the festival with you and get the scoop on the Anbu Exams. Were Shisui and Itachi there?" Temari asked as she elbowed Kimiko.

"I don't think I'm going to the festival," said Kimiko, completely ignoring the second half of what Temari just said.

"And why not?" demanded Temari?

"I don't know. I just don't find them all that fun. I haven't been to one since I was seven," explained Kimiko.

"Oh, now you're definitely going," said Temari with a raised eyebrow.

"Temari, I just don't want to go," Kimiko asserted.

"You don't get a choice," said Temari as she pulled out a kimono from deep within Kimiko's closet. "Look, I got you this for your birthday two years ago and you haven't even worn it!" she scoffed.

* * *

That night, Temari and Kimiko strolled down the streets looking at all the stalls that had been set up for the festival.

Temari wore a dark purple kimono with small light purple flowers up and down the sides and on the ends of the sleeves with a similarly colored obi. Kimiko wore a black kimono with small red and gold flowers on the shoulders and ends of the sleeves with a gold obi.

"I can't believe you got me here," said Kimiko incredulously and a little angrily.

"You'll thank me later," said Temari over her shoulder, "Now come on! Let's go get something to eat! I'm starved!"

Temari lead Kimiko over to a food stall, "Hmm. It' all looks so good," said Temari, "Ok! Two red bean dumplings please!"

"Coming right up!" said the man behind the counter.

"Kimiko-chan!"

"Huh?" said Kimiko as she turned to see who called her, "Oh, Mikoto."

Mikoto Uchiha was walking towards her with Tobi, Shisui, Itachi, and Sasuke in tow.

"Kimi-chan!" yelled Tobi and Shisui as they ran up to hug her.

"And you call _me_ Kiddo," mumbled Kimiko.

"Kimiko, how are you? It's been forever since I last saw you!" exclaimed Mikoto, "I heard that you made Anbu. Congratulations! Itachi told be that you put up an impressive fight."

"Thanks," said Kimiko, "It took me a couple days to get back up to full strength after that fight."

"Hey," Temari said as she poked Shisui, "Are you bipolar?"

"What do you mean? I'm not bipolar!" said Shisui.

"It's just that one minute you're crazy and the next you're serious," observed Temari, "I'd call that bipolar."

"I'm not bipolar!" yelled Shisui.

"Suuure," said Temari.

"There you are Teme!" yelled Naruto as he ran towards the group, "You were supposed to meet up with us half an hour ago!"

"Dobe," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura as she hit him over the head, "You're making a scene! Sorry for the trouble Mikoto-san. Come on!" She grabbed both boys by their yukatas and dragged them away.

"Oh, I wish I were that young again. To not have a care in the world..." commented Mikoto, "Itachi, don't you need to go find Reiko?"

Itachi nodded, "Yes, it is about time for me to find her." As he left Mikoto leaned over and whispered to Temari and Kimiko, "You know Fugaku wants Itachi to ask her to marry him!"

Tobi piped up, "Shisui said that he didn't think they were a good match. He said-" Tobi was cut off by Shisui's hand, "Look Tobi! Games!" he said as he dragged Tobi away.

"Oh, speaking of Fugaku, I'm supposed to be meeting him in ten minutes! Bye girls!" said Mikoto as she ran off.

"Bye Mikoto!" they yelled.

"And here I thought Uchihas were supposed to be emotionless and stoic," commented Temari after a few seconds of silence, "Anyways...I know! Let's go scoop goldfish!"

As Temari pulled Kimiko over to the booth, Kimiko protested, "But I don't want a goldfish. I don't have time to take care of one."

"Then just give it to some kid," said Temari as she turned to the person manning the stall, "Two paddles, please."

"Just do what I do," said Temari as she waited for a fish the swim close and scooped it into the little net with the paddle. "Now you try."

Kimiko waited for a fish to swim close to the paddle, but when she tried to scoop it in, she used too much force and the fish fell through the paddle.

Kimiko gave a little gasp as she remembered the last time she was at a festival.

_A seven year old Kimiko started to cry as yet another fish broke through her paddle._

_"Don't cry Kimi-chan," smiled Mikomi, "Let me help you."_

_With Mikomi's help, Kimiko gently scooped a goldfish into the little net._

_"Congratulations!" exclaimed the stall keeper as he handed her the fish in a bag._

_"What are you gonna name it?" asked Mikomi._

_"Hmm," pondered little Kimiko, "I'm gonna name him Uomaru!"_

_Kimiko was smiling up at Mikomi when out of nowhere a person in a mask jumped out._

_"GRRAA!"_

_"AHHH!" Kimiko screamed._

_Mikomi hit the person in the monster mask upside the head. "Don't do that Guren!" she said._

_Guren took off the mask, "You should have seen the look on your faces!" she laughed._

_"You really scared Kimiko!" shouted Mikomi as she pulled on Guren's ear._

_Kimiko just stood there watching the spectacle and burst out laughing. Mikomi and Guren stopped and looked at her for a moment and started laughing too._

"Kimiko?"

"Huh?"

"You ok?" asked a concerned Temari, "You kind of spaced out."

Kimiko took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm always fine."

* * *

And there you have it!

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!

Oh! and If you like the Vampire Diaries. Check out my oneshot Last Moments.


	14. Guren

I swear! My computer is bipolar! One second it can't pull up , ten minutes later it can!

Anyway's heres the chapter. First Anbu mission! Sort of...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I also used some diologue from Naruto Shippuden episode 112.

* * *

A Week Later

"I see," said Tsunade as she stood up, "Katsuyu, order everyone to return."

"Are you sure, Milady?" asked the timid slug.

"We have no choice," sighed Tsunade, "It would be impossible to have them continue their mission. Now that the child has lost his powers, Orochimaru can't control the Sanbi. We'll pull back for now, regroup and come up with a new plan."

"So you're just going to leave the Sanbi there then?" questioned Katsuyu.

"Of course not, I'll send ninja to replace them immediately!" said Tsunade, "Once they arrive, tell everyone to withdraw!"

"Right away!" said Katsuyu as she teleported away.

"Izumo! Kotetsu! Get me our newest Anbu recruits!" yelled Tsunade as Izumo and Kotetsu scurried in.

"Yes Milady!" they said as they set about their tasks.

* * *

Tsunade looked over the three recruits standing in front of her in their new uniforms.

"Recently we have been having problems with the Sanbi. I sent a team out to seal it along with an escort team, but problems have arisen. Orochimaru was also after the Sanbi for reasons we are not aware of. Luckily he has lost his means of controlling the Sanbi. Unfortunately, in the process, the teams I sent out have been wounded. You're first mission as Anbu is to keep things under control out there while we regroup and figure out what to do about the situation. Understood?"

"Yes Hokage-sama!" chorused Kimiko, Itsuko, and Wataru.

"Good," said Tsunade. As she was about to dismiss them, Kotetsu looked at her pointedly. "Oh, and ah, your team assignments should be done by the time you get back, smiled Tsunade, "...maybe."

* * *

The three Anbu had been traveling non-stop for four days. They were supposed to meet up with Team Kakashi and Team Kurenai, along with Shizune, Ino, Tenten, and Lee that night.

Kimiko, Itsuko, and Wataru ran through the woods silently when Kimiko noticed a glint out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm going to scout the area," she said, "I'll meet you guys at the rendezvous point."

"If you aren't there in twenty four hours, we'll assume the worst," said Wataru.

"Understood," agreed Kimiko.

* * *

She ran back to where she had seen the glint expecting to find some kind of hidden weapon, but instead found nothing. She was about to leave when she saw another glint and went to look but also found nothing.

She kept seeing small glints of something, but every time she tried to find what ever was shining, she came up with nothing.

Night fell and eventually the glinting vanished and she stumbled on to a lake.

"Great way to start your Anbu career Kimiko," she sighed, "chasing after nothing..."

She looked out at the lake, "This must have been where the fight with the Sanbi took place," she mused.

She was about to head to the rendezvous point when a big rock caught her eye. It wasn't like the other rocks lying under the cliff, this one was geometrical. It looked cleanly cut.

She went over and picked it up only to find that it was covered with mud. She dipped it in the soothing water and when it came out it was a pink crystal.

"No!" she gasped as she dropped the crystal, "It can't be..." she trailed off as she realized that all the glints she'd been following could have been bits of crystal dust.

She hurriedly looked around for a trail she could follow. After an hour of searching the lake and many more crystal pieces, she finally found a trail of crystal powder and wet footprints followed by a pair of heavier foot prints.

As she went on, a smaller pair of foot prints could be found. By then, the sun was peaking out and the sky was starting to lighten.

Once again, the crystal dust became visible and tears were starting to come to her eyes s she speed up her pace. She passed a red camellia bush that had a small grass whistle and a crystallized white camellia stuck in it, but by that time she didn't even stop to wonder why they were there.

She was running now and her vision was blurry from the tears she was trying to hold back. Camellia bushes surrounded her now.

She pushed through one and came to a clearing where she stopped dead, in relief, in anger, and in shock.

* * *

"Where could she be?" wondered Kakashi. Itsuko and Wataru had meet up with everyone and told them that Kimiko had gone scouting.

"It isn't like her to cut things this close," agreed Shizune.

"Calm down, the girl's got two hours left to get here. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself," said Itsuko as she looked up from showing Tenten her assortment of weapons.

"But it is not right for her to be gone this long in unknown territory!" defended Lee.

"She made Anbu for a reason," assured Wataru, she won't be killed that easily."

"But I heard that she got hit by a massive amount of lightning during the exam, she could still be hurt!" worried Ino.

"No, they're right," said Kakashi, "She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she's not eight anymore."

"What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto, "I thought you meet her when she became a Jonin like you."

"Didn't you know, Naruto?" asked Sakura, "Kakashi-sensei is the one that found Kimiko."

"What?" chorused many of the occupants of the room. "Let me explain," started Sakura.

* * *

Guren heard someone stampeding through the forest, pushed Yukimaru behind her and took up her fighting stance.

Suddenly, the person broke through the foliage and Guren froze in shock.

"Kimi-chan?" whispered Guren, "I thought you were dead."

Guren was cut off by a sharp slap in the face followed by a warm hug.

"How?" cried Kimiko, feeling like a little eight-year-old again. "How could you leave with _him_? He killed our family!"

"I-" started Guren, but she found herself at a loss for words. Finally she said, "I was...corrupted, no fascinated by how much power he had. I'm sorry. If I had known that you were..."

"Guren-san..." murmured Yukimaru

"Kimi-chan," said Guren wiping tears from her eyes, "This is Yukimaru, he's my...my new family. Yukimaru, this is my cousin, Kimiko."

"Nice to meet you Kimiko-san!" said Yukimaru cheerfully, "Is you're home with Guren to?"

Guren took in Kimiko's Anbu uniform and the Konoha sign on her mask.

"No, Yukimaru, Kimiko's got her own home now," said Guren sadly.

"I really missed you," said Kimiko quietly, "Can't you come to Konoha with me?"

"We can't do that. I'm sorry Kimiko, but we can't stay in one place. I left Orochimaru. He thinks I'm dead, if he finds us..."

"I understand," said Kimiko, "I just wish we could be a family again."

"You know that couldn't happen even if I did come back," said Guren.

They hugged each other tightly, knowing that this was the last time they were ever going to meet again.

"I'll miss you so much," Guren whispered in Kimiko's ear.

"Me too," she whispered back.

Both women cried silently, not wanting to leave each other.

"Goodbye," they whispered, then let go of each other and turned to leave.

"Come on Yukimaru, it's time to go," said Guren quietly as she took the child's hand.

Neither girl could bear to look back as they parted for the last time.

* * *

"I'm disappointed Kabuto," said Orochimaru

"I'm sorry. I didn't count on Konoha interfering," apologized Kabuto.

"And so, did that women...Guren die?" inquired Orochimaru.

"Regretfully, yes," said Kabuto with a straight face, "she possessed very interesting powers..."

Orochimaru laughed, "Like you mean that. Maybe you were the one who killed her?"

"Heaven forbid," said Kabuto very insincerely.

"Well never mind," said Orochimaru, "I have an idea for the perfect replacement for a person of her abilities."

* * *

If you want to see a picture of Guren and Yukimaru, got to my profile.

Please Review and thank you for reading!


	15. Announcement

Here it is! The 15th chapter! Honestly, I can hardly believe I'm at 15 chapters.

Anyways, this chapter kind of explains Kimiko's choice about Guren from last chapter. You also get a small look at Itachi's relationship with his dad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

About a Week Later

The mission was successfully completed and the Sanbi was subdued, but ever since she arrived at the rendezvous point, Kimiko was not the same.

Even when she got back to Konoha, it was like a little part of her died on the mission.

"Hey! Sooo? How'd the first Anbu mission go?" yelled Temari as she busted through Kimiko's front door. "I heard that you just got back."

Temari walked into the living room to find Kimiko slumped on the couch.

"What happened?" said a concerned Temari, "Did you guys fail? Pfft. That's what you should expect from Leaf ninja," teased Temari expecting Kimiko to at least have some sort of reaction."

"No. It was a success," deadpanned Kimiko.

"Well what's wrong then?" asked Temari as she helped herself to Kimiko's pantry, "Don't tell me you had a relapse...Do I need to kick your butt again to get you to be outgoing?" Temari smirked.

Temari stopped cold when she heard the next three words come out of Kimiko's mouth.

"I found Guren."

"Tell me what happened," said Temari seriously as she sat across from Kimiko.

* * *

Itachi was practicing his shuriken in the forest after an intense sparring session with Sasuke when he felt a surge of chakra appear.

He quickly through one of his shuriken in the direction of the chakra flare only to have it thrown back at him.

He effortlessly caught the shuriken and Shisui stepped out of the bushes.

"Geez, Itachi. You could have killed me!" he complained.

"You should know better than to sneak up on me while I'm training," countered Itachi, "Why are you here?"

Shisui suddenly turned serious, "You're father wants to see you. Now,"

"Very well," said Itachi as he started walking towards the compound.

"Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Shisui returning to his fun-loving self.

* * *

"What!" yelled Temari, "What do you mean you let her go? Why didn't you drag her back here?"

"I wanted to," said Kimiko quietly, "I just-"

"Well? Why didn't you?" demanded Temari, "You've been looking for her all your life, and you just let her go?"

"I couldn't force her to come with me," whispered Kimiko.

"Yes you could have! You're an Anbu Black Op for God's sakes! You're plenty strong enough!" argued Temari.

Getting fed up, Kimiko stood and yelled, "She had a twelve year old boy with her! A boy that Orochimaru wants! He can't stop running from him! It was either leave me or leave him!" Kimiko calmed down, "I couldn't force her to abandon the kid."

Suddenly Temari understood, "You don't want the kid to have to raise himself like you did, do you?"

Kimiko nodded, "It's lonely. I couldn't take away his only family. I have you guys already. He's only got her..."

Temari nodded, "You made a good choice."

* * *

Itachi sat across from his father and mother in the room over looking the backyard.

All was quiet and peaceful. Birds were chirping and the sun was starting to set.

"Itachi," said Fugaku, drawing his eldest son's attention away from the yard.

"I'm listening father," assured Itachi.

"As you know, you are the heir to the Uchiha Clan," started Fugaku, "This means that when I die or decide to retire, you will be the next leader of the clan."

"Of course father. I never forget," said Itachi"

"You've been dating Reiko for a while and now that you are soon to be twenty-one," Fugaku stated, "I think it's about time for you to be married."

Itachi sat there in silent shock, while his face still portrayed nothing. After composing himself he replied, "I'll get married when I feel I'm ready."

"Don't be foolish, Itachi," said Fugaku, "A leader of the Uchiha clan must have legitimate heirs."

"Then it is a good thing that I'm not the leader of the clan yet," retorted Itachi.

"Please, Itachi," begged Mikoto, "It would do me good to see my oldest son happily married,"

Just then, a masked Anbu popped in to the room.

"Anbu Captain Itachi Uchiha, the Hokage requests you're presence in her office immediately," said the masked ninja.

"Tell her that I'm on my way," said Itachi as he stood up.

"Yes sir," saluted the ninja as he teleported back out.

"We aren't finished Itachi," growled Fugaku.

"I'm sorry, but I've been summoned by the Hokage," apologized Itachi.

"You're loyalty is to the Uchiha clan first and the Hokage second!" yelled Fugaku as he stood up angrily.

"My loyalty is to Konoha's citizens first," Itachi calmly responded with a hint of annoyance. With that said, Itachi proceeded to teleport to the Hokage's office.

"Damn him!" yelled Fugaku as he punched the wall with the side of his fist.

* * *

Tsunade looked up as Itachi arrived, "Good. We're all here," she said as she looked around the room.

The three newest members of the Anbu Black Ops, Wataru, Kimiko, and Itsuko, had been assembled as well as Ibiki Morino, Yugao Uzuki, and Itachi Uchiha.

I have finally decided what teams to put you in," announced Tsunade referring to the three newest members.

"Wataru, I've decided that you're skills will be best used, not in the field, but here. You'll be on our team of strategists. You'll also be taught the ways of interrogation by Ibiki Morino."

"Thank you, Milady. It will be my pleasure," said Wataru politely.

"Kimiko, you will be put on Itachi Uchiha's team. You're new team mates will be Itachi, Shisui Uchiha, and whatever other sucker I can get to agree to be on a team with them," Tsunade mumbled the last part as she took a swig of sake.

"Milady! Where did you get that! I swore I hid all of those!" said an embarrassed Shizune.

"Oink! Oink!" Tonton agreed from the indignant assistant's arms.

"And Itsuko will be on Yugao's team. You're new teammates are Yugao, Kage, and Towa," continued Tsunade as if Shizune hadn't said anything at all, "You are now eligible for legitimate Anbu missions. Congratulations, I know all of you will prove to be shinobi worthy of this rank."

* * *

Done! I swear, I was having typing problems writing this one. I kept mispelling stuff and having to go back.

Anyways! Thanks for reading! Please Review!


	16. Mission

Here it is! Number 16! Kimiko's first Anbu mission!

**There is a new poll up! Please vote! It applies to this story.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

One Week Later

It was a week after Kimiko had found out that she had been put on Itachi and Shisui's Anbu team.

Winter had set into Konoha and a thin layer of snow covered the ground while more floated down from the sky.

Kimiko was enjoying a cup of green tea and watching the snow fall from her kitchen window when a masked Anbu suddenly popped in.

"The Hokage requests your presence in her office immediately."

Kimiko looked away from the window and sighed, "Understood," then teleported out of her house.

* * *

As soon as Kimiko arrived Tsunade began to explain the mission to Itachi's team.

"Recently we have had an important scroll stolen from us. We have reason to believe that it is now in a heavily guarded compound in or near Amegakure. Your mission is to retrieve the scroll and bring it safely back here. We cannot afford for this mission to be a failure, and in the event that you can't get the scroll back to us, destroy it. Is this understood?" asked Tsunade.

Shisui raised his hand.

Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Yes? What is it Shisui?" she asked testily.

"I was just wondering why Reiko is here. Last time I checked, she wasn't an Anbu member and if the mission is as hard as you say it is..." Shisui trailed off.

"As I said, the complex we believe the scroll is in is heavily guarded. It will be best if you get in and out without much opposition. Reiko has mastered a water style jutsu called Mist Paralysis jutsu that will greatly lessen the amount of ninja you will have to face."

"I don't think that it is a good idea to take anyone under the level of Anbu on this mission," spoke Itachi.

"I understand that Itachi, but we don't have another choice," sighed Tsunade. "Are there any more questions?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Very well then. You leave in an hour. Dismissed!"

* * *

"Kabuto!" yelled Orochimaru.

"Yes my lord?" asked Kabuto as he entered the dark room.

"Get me Tayuya. I have a mission for her."

"Of course my lord," bowed Kabuto.

Shortly after he left, Tayuya strutted in.

"You called my lord?" she drawled.

"A group of Anbu from Konoha will soon be traveling to Amegakure. There is a girl in that group named Kimiko. I want you to take Rinji and whoever else you need and capture her alive. She will be my next body after this one fails me."

"Must I take Rinji? That little piece of shit will turn on me as soon as he gets the chance. He'll be useless to me," sneered Tayuya.

Orochimaru chuckled, "On the contrary, he'll be quite useful to you. He's very charismatic. You'll need that in order to talk the rain ninja into ambushing the leaf-nin with you."

Tayuya frowned, "I don't need help from those washed up losers. You're insulting my abilities."

"Itachi and Shisui Uchiha travel with her. You'll need all the help you can get."

"And what's more," said Rinji as he rounded the corner, "Kimiko has the same chakra type as Guren. You'll need my bats to get you out of her crystal attacks."

"Ha! What can your shitty little bats do other than sleep and produce bat guano?" mocked Tayuya.

"They create a frequency that breaks the crystal, something that your silly flute could never do," scoffed Rinji.

Tayuya screamed, "Why you son of a-"

"Now, now children, behave. You have a mission together, and I won't allow you to fail. You won't be allowed back until you bring me the girl, and you can tell whoever else you take with you the same as I told you. Now pick your minions and go," ordered Orochimaru.

"Yes my lord," they bowed as they left.

* * *

Kimiko meet her team of Uchihas in front of the village gates with her pack on her back.

"Ready to go?" asked Shisui cheerfully.

Kimiko and Reiko nodded and Shisui looked to Itachi.

"Let's be off then," said Itachi as he headed outside the gate.

Before long, the four ninja were flying through the snow covered trees. The only extra warmth they had to their uniforms was a long black scarf.

Itachi lead the way followed by Kimiko, then Reiko, and Shisui brought up the rear.

Every now and then Shisui would use his Body Flicker technique to scout ahead, but they seemed to be traveling alone through the wintery woods.

Finally when night fell, they found a small clearing in the woods and decided to camp there.

While Reiko went off to find wood for a small fire, the rest of then unrolled their sleeping bags and got out the soldier pills.

A tiered and freezing Kimiko popped the little pill in her mouth and instantly felt a little less tiered.

She looked across at her companions and saw that Shisui was already asleep in his cozy sleeping bag and Itachi was staring into the woods thoughtfully.

After a long silence, Itachi spoke up, "Kimiko, will you do me a favor?" he asked.

"Of course," said Kimiko, "After all, I still owe you for ten years ago."

"I something happens, will you protect Reiko for me? I'm concerned about her being on this mission with us."

As Itachi said this, Kimiko could see the worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, of course I'll protect her," nodded Kimiko slowly.

Itachi smiled a little, "Thank you."

* * *

Back in Orochimaru's Lair

"If I may ask sir," said Kabuto, "Why ask the Rain ninja for assistance? Why not the ninja from Kirigakure? We've already got spies working for us there."

"The team Kimiko is with was sent to retrieve a special scroll from Amegakure. They'll be more...motivated to attack them than ninja from Kiri."

"How'd you know this would be the perfect time to strike?" asked Kabuto, confused.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru tsked, "I'm disappointed that you didn't expect me to have set this whole thing up."

"You mean you stole the scroll?" asked a shocked Kabuto.

"I might have...led the Rain ninja to it," cackled Orochimaru.

* * *

Meanwhile

Miles away, Ameguakure's specialist ninja were trying to crack the seal that kept Konoha's secrets enclosed in the scroll.

* * *

Oooh! Orochimaru's scheming!

**There is a new poll up! Please vote! It applies to this story.**

Thanks for reading! Please Review!


	17. Retrieval

I just had the busiest week of the year last week! But I won't bore you with that!

**I need more people to vote on my poll! It's who do you want Temari to be paired with. Shikamaru or Shisui**

**So far shikamaru is winning by one point!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! (Aoi also belongs to the Naruto people.)

* * *

Snow covered the ground as Itachi's team arrived outside of the complex of buildings.

They overlooked the massive complex. It was almost as big as a small village and the buildings were very close to each other. Everything was connected by a bridge or a courtyard.

Shisui turned to Itachi, "So how are we gonna do this?" he asked.

Itachi started explaining the plan, "Reiko will use her Mist Paralysis jutsu on the entire complex."

Reiko interrupted, "It's going to take a lot of chakra for me to cover the entire complex. I'll be useless for a while afterwards."

"I've taken that into account," nodded Itachi, "Kimiko will have clones keeping watch outside, one can stay with you. Meanwhile, Shisui will search the north and west wings with his Body Flicker technique, I'll search the south wings, and Kimiko will search the east wings."

"How long will it take for Reiko's jutsu to wear off?" questioned Kimiko.

"When it's spread that thin? About fifteen minutes at the most," said Reiko.

"Then we have ten minutes to get in, find the scroll, and get out," said Itachi, "As soon as people start moving again, get out." He handed everyone a wireless radio. As the team attached their communicators to their neck, Itachi said, "We'll be on frequency 174."

"Right!" said everyone as they put the ear bud on.

"Let's start," said Itachi as he nodded to Reiko.

She nodded back and performed a series of hand signs, "Water Style: Mist Paralysis Justu!" she yelled.

While a green tinted mist formed over the complex, Kimiko set about making her clones.

She formed three hand signs and said, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Mirror!" After a hexagonal crystal formed she said, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Clone Jutsu!" Five clones of Kimiko walked out of the mirror.

By now the mist had formed thickly around the complex, "We're ready," said Reiko.

"Remember, as soon as you find the scroll; tell us so we can get out. Same goes for if the mist wears off," says Itachi.

Everyone put on their mask, and they were off. Shisui teleported away and Itachi used a genjutsu and split into dozens of crows that flew off. Four Kimiko clones went to patrol the walls while the fifth stayed to keep watch with Reiko. The real Kimiko was already off towards the Warlord's complex.

* * *

Two sentries were guarding the east gate when a mist crept towards them.

The younger, newer guard said, "What's going on? Its winter, it isn't supposed to be misty."

The older guard sighed, "It's still early winter. It's probably just some left over autumn fog."

"But-," started the young sentry.

"Just get back to your job," said the older one.

The younger one sighed, but did as he was told. As the mist rolled in and the seconds ticked by, the young sentry began to feel stiff. Suddenly, he saw something out of the corner of his eye move. He turned to look, but found he couldn't. The dark moving shadows were close by now. As they ran through the gate the young man tried to shout, but found he couldn't. One shadow turned south and the other kept straight.

* * *

Itachi entered the long building and started looking through every room he encountered. True to her word, everyone he passed was paralyzed by Reiko's jutsu.

He passed many libraries, but knew that they'd never put such a valuable scroll somewhere it could get misplaced so easily.

* * *

Shisui used his Body Flicker jutsu to speed through the north wings and hadn't had any luck. With only five minutes to spare, he still had to look through the entirety of the south wings. He slowed down and began to look more carefully, knowing that time was of the essence.

* * *

Kimiko tiptoed through the east wings. She was about a third of the way through and still hadn't had any luck. She finally came to the last room in the hall. It looked like an office, probably for someone important. She began riffling through the desk drawers, but only found paperwork. She was about to give up, when she saw a fake part of the wall; an ideal spot for a hidden safe.

She had gotten the wall open and was working on cracking the safe when she heard someone at the doorway.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked a smooth, familiar voice.

* * *

Shisui hurried down the hallway when something caught his eye. It was a small door hidden in the wall of the room he had just left. If it weren't for his quick eyes, he probably would have missed it. He turned on his heal and headed towards the small door.

* * *

Kimiko turned around and saw a young, green-haired man that looked to be about Itachi's or Shisui's age. She glared, "Rokushō Aoi." This was the man who had defected from Konoha and stolen the Second Hokage's Blade of the Thunder Spirit while he was at it. "You traitor", she spat.

"Nice to see you too," he said, "You know that mist jutsu was good, I'm impressed."

"Well I'll tell Reiko you said that," said Kimiko sarcastically as she tried to figure a way out of the room.

Suddenly her wireless radio crackled to life, "I found it!" shouted Shisui.

"Good," said Kimiko, "Because, I found trouble!" she shouted as she rushed Aoi and punched him in the face, followed shortly after by a punch to the stomach.

Unfortunately, he was ready for her and came back with a side sweep to the legs. She jumped to doge the kick, but was met with another to the stomach.

She grunted and heard more static in her ear, "Kimiko! What's going on?" asked Shisui.

"I ran into someone; the mist is wearing off! You need to get out!" she grunted.

There was a pause, then Itachi's voice came on, "Get out as fast as you can. You know where to meet us.

Aoi took out several senbon and hurled them at Kimiko, but they just bounced off her skin. As she moved, the place the senbon bounced off of glinted in the dim light. She returned his attack with several of her crystal shuriken.

Aoi's eyes widened and he got a wild look to them. "So this is the Crystal nature chakra I've heard so much about!"

He began to take out his Blade of the Thunder Spirit.

Kimiko bit her lip, "I can't let this go on!" she thought. She quickly formed several hand signs and shouted, "Crystal Style: Burst Crystal Dragon!"

Instead of having the dragon attack Aoi, she had it destroy the pillars holding up the room.

"What are you doing? Fight me!" snarled Aoi.

The roof started to crumble, then entire beams fell and finally the whole roof of that room caved in.

* * *

Itachi, Reiko, and Shisui stood on a wooded hill overlooking the complex when the roof caved in. Kimiko's clone had crumbled away.

"We need to go before they send ninja after us," said Reiko, "Tsunade said that this mission can't fail."

"Give her a minute," said Itachi, "She passed the Anbu Exams for a reason."

Kimiko came bounding up the hill. "We need to go now!" she said, "The roof collapsing won't hold them up for long."

Itachi nodded, "Focus what chakra you have to your feet. We need to tread lightly and leave no foot prints," he instructed.

"Right!" they all said as they took off.

* * *

Aoi kneeled before the warlord with his team of ninja.

"Get that scroll back and destroy anyone that gets in your way! I will not tolerate failure!" roared the warlord.

Aoi sneered, "Trust me, I don't intend to fail."

"Really? 'Cause it seems like you did a pretty good job of that in your earlier fight," said a female voice.

Aoi whirled around, "Who are you?" he demanded as he looked at the strange team of ninja before him.

"Help," smirked Tayuya.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please Review!

Also **Please vote on my poll about who you want to see temari with in some scenes.**

**If you do go tto my profile to vote, there is also a lovely picture of Aoi there.**


	18. Ambush

Hey guys! So this one is extra long, and I mean _extra_ long. I just couldn't find a good place to stop.

Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Aoi looked at the impudent girl like she had three heads and started laughing.

"You?" he laughed, "What can you do to help us? You're just one person!"

"What makes you think I'm alone, bastard? I have a team waiting for me outside. I'm not stupid like-" Tayuya smirked, "well, you."

Aoi was furious at this girl now, "Why you little bi-"

"Silence!" shouted the warlord. Noticing the girl's headband he asked, "Who are you and why would the Sound ninja want to help us?"

Tayuya smiled a cheeky smile, "I am Tayuya, and Orochimaru wants...something from the ninja that stole the scroll that you worked so hard to steal," she said the last part sarcastically.

"What's in it for us?" asked the Warlord suspiciously.

"Simple," said Tayuya, "you get the scroll and the heads of all the ninja that had a part in taking it-"

The warlord was about to say something when Tayuya cut him off, "Except, for the one with the crystal powers. Lord Orochimaru has taken a...special interest in her. I don't care what happens to her as long as I get her alive. Otherwise, you'll have Orochimaru to deal with. Do we have an agreement?"

The warlord looked at her outstretched hand apprehensively.

* * *

One Day Later

Tayuya and Aoi ran through the forest with four teams of Amegakure ninja behind them.

"You can do what ever you want with the girl, but I will be the one to capture her," threatened Aoi.

"Oooh. Looks like she beat you good," taunted Tayuya, "Looks like she took out your ego too."

"Shut up!" whispered Aoi.

"What? Don't want you're little friends back there to hear about your short comings?" she mocked, "I mean there's got to be a reason you're wearing a jumpsuit. Then again, all of you Ame ninja are wearing them. It must be some kind of genetic thing."

Aoi was boiling mad. He was going to show this impertinent sound kunoichi a thing or two.

"I'll show you! You-"

Tayuya stopped him, "Shhh. It's time."

"Where's this team of yours anyways?" Aoi grumbled.

Tayuya ignored him, took out her flute, and made a bird call with it. Seconds later another call came back.

* * *

Itachi was leading his team away from the complex as fast as he could. They were making good time, but he knew that there were probably ninja hot on their trail. To make matters worse, Reiko still hadn't built up enough chakra to put up a decent fight. She was losing chakra faster than she could gain it due to the fast pace they were going at, but they couldn't afford to take a brake. Itachi was worried.

"Why couldn't you have sent someone else, Tsunade?" he pleaded in his mind.

The snowy woods they traveled through were completely silent except for the two birds calling back and forth to each other. "Wait a minute," he thought, "There shouldn't be..."

Then he heard the sound of a kunai flying through the air, heading for their most exhausted member.

* * *

Reiko was worn out. It was getting harder and harder for her to keep up with the rest of the team, but she knew that they had to keep going. Her tiered brain was taking everything in slowly, so when she realized that a kunai was flying towards her, the only thing she had time to do was throw her arms in front of her face and hope that the kunai would miss.

She heard the sound of the kunai hitting something, but she felt no pain. Reiko looked up and found that she wasn't bleeding. Itachi was standing in front of her with a kunai of his own, but that wasn't what had stopped the kunai.

She heard a crumbling sound and saw that the kunai had been enveloped by a wall of crystal that was disintegrating before her eyes.

* * *

As Kimiko's wall crumbled, she heard clapping and looked up.

A tan man with shaggy dark hair, wearing a vest and scarf walked out of the forest, "So the rumors are true," he said pleasantly, "Guren wasn't the only one with the Crystal Type chakra."

"What do you want?" spat Shisui as three more ninja came out of the woods.

"Well, Shisui Uchiha, I don't want anything, but Lord Orochimaru on the other hand, requests that Kimiko comes with us," said Rinji

"I'd sooner die than go to that man," said Kimiko in a low dangerous voice.

"Sorry," said Rinji, "What Lord Orochimaru wants, Lord Orochimaru gets."

"You heard her," spoke Itachi, "This is your last chance to leave. Not only are you interfering with our mission, but you're also threatening my teammate. I don't take to that kindly."

"Well that' just too bad," said a voice from the trees, "Because I don't take too kindly to having a roof dropped on my head," snarled Aoi.

"The cavalry has arrived, girlies!" announced Tayuya to her squad, which happened to be made up of all males.

As she said this, fourteen pairs of eyes became visible, and slowly, all of the Ame-nin came out of the woods.

"Last chance to surrender," said Rinji.

"Here's my answer!" yelled Kimiko as she formed a giant crystal spear on her arm and attacked Rinji.

Then, out of nowhere, hundreds of bats came out and started screeching at Kimiko. Her spear crumbled away and left a pile of crystal fragments on the ground. She gasped, and tried again with a crystal blade, but that crumbled too when the bats started screeching at her.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," scolded Rinji, wagging his finger back and forth, "That will never work. You see, my bats produce a frequency that breaks the particles in the crystal apart. You're powerless."

"I still have taijustu!" said Kimiko determinedly as she struck at him again.

He dodged it and jumped away, "I see that we'll have to do things the hard way," he sighed.

Tayuya nodded to Aoi, "As promised, she's yours. Just make sure we get her back in one piece and alive."

* * *

Aoi advanced on Kimiko as all of the other enemy ninja rushed towards Itachi, Reiko, and Shisui.

"Now you'll see what real power is like!" said Aoi with the same wild look in his eye from before.

He pulled out the Blade of the Thunder Spirit and attacked her with it. Kimiko instinctively went to block it with her crystal blade, but the bats came back, and the thunder sword hit her on the chest.

She held back a scream and writhed as it electrocuted her. The pain seemed to go on and on.

Aoi smirked, "And to think, that was only a small demonstration of what this sword can do.

* * *

Shisui was using his Body Flicker jutsu to go from one ninja to another hoping that it would dispose of them quicker. He tried to cut them down with his tanto but they seemed to have studied his attacks and knew exactly how to avoid him.

"It's like they've been planning this for weeks! They know all of my moves!" he thought.

Finally he got frustrated and yelled, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" this time, not all of the ninja could get out of the way and he was able to take down about three.

* * *

Itachi was in a genjutsu battle with Tayuya. It was his Sharingan against her second stage of her cursed seal and her demonic flute.

Finally Tayuya got tired of playing illusionary mind games. "Let's finish this like real ninja! No more games," she said, "Summoning Jutsu: Angry Demons!"

Three giant ogres came out and Tayuya started playing her flute again. Their mouths opened and translucent worm-like creatures came out and attacked him. Itachi tried to attack them, but they went through him and he could feel them eating at his chakra. He jumped back to get away from them.

"I have to destroy her flute," he thought, "That has to be the source of her power."

He quickly formed several hand signs and drew back a big breath, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Several balls of fire shot out of his mouth and headed towards Tayuya. She dodged them with ease, but they kept following her.

"What's going on?" she snapped

"I've imbedded chakra into the fire balls. They'll keep following you until they hit their mark," said Itachi.

Suddenly Tayuya's fingers began to burn. She looked down and saw that a fire ball had hit her now red hot flute. The metal melted in her hands.

"No!" she yelled as Itachi rushed at her.

* * *

Four Rain ninja surrounded Reiko. She fought as hard as she could, but she still felt incredibly weak. She didn't have enough chakra to use any of her water attacks or her sharingan. Every time she defeated one ninja it seemed like there were two more to fill the empty space.

As much as she tried, she just wasn't going to be able to last much longer.

"I have to keep fighting!" she thought, "Tsunade sent me on this mission for a reason, and I won't let her or Itachi down!"

Finding renewed strength in her determination she kept fending off the enemy ninja.

* * *

Kimiko was fighting a losing battle. Every time she tried to use her Crystal Jutsus, the bats would just reappear, and Aoi's sword kept cutting through her normal, metal weapons. She had resorted to using her fists to get her fighting done, but that sword was still a problem.

She ran to punch Aoi in the gut, but he dodged it. As she got more frustrated, she started getting sloppy and came at him head on. Aoi easily dodged her attacks.

He was getting bored. "My turn now!" he smirked.

As Kimiko went in for a roundhouse kick, he caught her with his sword. As pierced through her abdomen and electrocuted her, she screamed out and tears of frustration rolled down her eyes.

Once he took the sword out of her stomach, she collapsed on the ground and her little jar of crystal powder rolled out of her weapons pouch.

Kimiko hadn't felt this vulnerable and helpless since the night of the fire.

She closed her eyes in despair. With her eyes closed, her hearing was enhanced. She heard Reiko fighting the four Rain ninja.

"I'm so useless," she thought back on the night her clan died, "I can't ever do anything when it really matters."

Then she heard another Rain ninja get ready to attack Reiko with a water jutsu, except it sounded like she didn't know about this one.

_Kimiko sat with Itachi by the fire while Shisui slept and Reiko looked for more wood. _

_They sat in silence staring at the fire. It wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. It was a comfortable kind of silence, and she was content to just sit there with him and look into the fire. _

_Suddenly, Itachi spoke up, "Kimiko, will you do me a favor?" he asked._

_"Of course," said Kimiko, "After all, I still owe you for ten years ago."_

_"I something happens, will you protect Reiko for me? I'm concerned about her being on this mission with us."_

_As Itachi said this, Kimiko could see the worry in his eyes._

_"Yeah, of course I'll protect her," nodded Kimiko slowly_.

Kimiko's eyes flashed open. That's right. She wasn't alone any more. She had a team, and she had to protect them.

Her eyes flashed open and, despite her wound, she jumped to her feet and into a fighting postion.

"And here I thought you were down for the count," he said getting ready for an attack.

To his surprise, Kimiko turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

* * *

Reiko was having a hard time, but she had managed to kill one of the ninja and was holding off the others when she heard, "Water Style: Ripping Torrent."

She turned around in time to see a large, high speed jet of water come at her.

The next thing she knew, she heard a loud crack and was on the ground.

She looked up to see Kimiko standing next to her cradling her broken arm. Kimiko had pushed her out of the way and the powerful stream of water had managed to break her arm.

Reiko was dazed, "Kimiko...why?" she asked.

"Get up," said Kimiko as she held out her hand, "It'll take all of us to hold them off."

Reiko smiled and took Kimiko's hand, "Yeah."

* * *

Itachi was thrown backwards many feet by some kind of firing contraption on a small sound ninja's arm. He landed hard on a sharp rock that cut into his leg and heard a small jingling sound. He ignored the pain and looked down only to see a familiar looking jar full of powder. He quickly pocketed it and looked up to find many copies of the same, tall sound ninja with breathing mask surrounding him.

He attacked the nearest one with a kunai only for it to be a clone. Using his immense speed, he quickly took out ten clones. This ninja didn't seem to be like the cocky Rain ninja. He was careful and silent in battle, much like Itachi.

"I can't let this go on. Reiko and Kimiko are getting weaker by the second, and there still about twelve enemy ninja left," he thought looking over at wounded Kimiko and an exhausted Reiko fighting side by side, "We need to finish this now or the mission will be compromised."

He quickly formed a series of hand signs, "Fire Style," he yelled as he exhaled, "Dragon Flame Bomb!"

A flame in the shape of a dragon left his mouth and attacked each and every clone until there was only one left.

Itachi attacked the man head on. As the Sound ninja got ready to black Itachi's attack, Itachi disappeared.

The Sound ninja looked every where for Itachi, but couldn't find him.

Suddenly, the ninja exploded into a giant cloud of dark gas. The real ninja had been gone for a while. Itachi had attacked him from above.

As the clone exploded, the gas blew into Itachi's face and started spreading rapidly. Itachi's eyes watered and stung as the gas irritated them.

"It's poison!" realized Itachi as he held his breath, "Reiko and Kimiko are fighting a couple feet away. They won't realize until it's too late!"

He quickly ran over to where they were. He pushed Reiko out of the poison's reach one way, and then pushed Kimiko out of the smoke in the other direction. After he made sure they were safe, he jumped high over the gas and out of its reach.

The poison was starting to affect Itachi. His eyes were red, and not from the Sharingan. He had made sure not to breathe in any of the foul gas, but it was still affecting him. It must have affected his eyes when it exploded into his face.

His eyesight started to blur randomly. One second he could see clearly, and the next, it was all fuzzy and he could only make out vague shapes and colors. He knew that with three out of the four ninja on the team's health compromised there was no way, they'd get out of this if they didn't run.

He looked over at Shisui, who was fighting three Rain ninja and Reiko who had been pushed out of the smoke in Shisui's direction. He then turned and looked at Kimiko; she had a stab wound in her abdomen and a broken arm. He knew what he had to do. They all wouldn't be able to make it out.

"Shisui!" he yelled, "We're retreating! Take Reiko and deliver the scroll to the Hokage!"

Shisui looked up, "What about you and Kimiko?" he asked. Itachi was acting strange.

"Go," commanded Itachi, knowing that Shisui could keep Reiko safe and that they'd be the ones to most likely get away un harmed, "We'll hold them off."

"No Itachi!" denied Reiko, "We won't leave you!"

Shisui only partly understood Itachi's reasons, but followed his orders never the less. He broke away from his battle, grabbed Reiko, and threw her over his shoulder.

Reiko kicked and screamed, "No! Let go of me! I won't leave him here!"

Shisui just ignored her and kept on going.

The Rain ninja went to follow them, but Itachi and Kimiko blocked their way.

Tayuya walked to the front, "There's no way you can win now that there's only you two. Hand over the bitch and you can go unscathed."

The situation was hopeless, so as soon as Shisui and Reiko were out of sight and had gone a good ways, Itachi and Kimiko bolted.

If they wanted to survive, they had to run, and now that they didn't have to protect the scroll, they could. So they ran and disappeared into the forest.

Tayuya screamed in frustration, "Find them!"

All the Sound ninja took off after them and the Rain ninja turned to go after the scroll.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Aoi.

"Out mission is to get the scroll back," said one bold ninja.

"Not anymore. I want you to find that girl! I'll show her for running away from me mid fight!"

The Rain ninja hesitated,

"Go!" yelled Aoi.

Without a second thought, the ninja turned and ran after Itachi and Kimiko.

* * *

**As a special thank you to all of my lovely readers, I'm giving you the chance to appear in the story. In the next couple of chapters I will have a couple of Ocs making cameos. If you want to be one, review and give me your:**

**Oc's name (Must be Japanese)**

**Oc's gender**

**Description of the Oc (personality wise) the description doesn't have to be that deep, remember it's only a minor part**

**I will look through the Oc's and pick which Ocs I think will work best in/with my story.**

Thank you for reading, please review, and remember, my poll is still open.


	19. Help

Not as long as the last chapter, but still, just as vital...Ok, maybe not _as_ vital, the last chap was kind of the climactic fight scene.

Anyways, Happy Holidays. My holiday gift is still available to all. Just see the end of Ambush to see the details.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but boy would that be a christmas gift!

* * *

Itachi and Kimiko had been running for what seemed like hours and were still being chased.

They were getting tired, and that ment that they were getting sloppy. If they didn't rest soon, the sound and rain ninja would find them regardless of how far or fast they ran.

Up ahead, Itachi could barely make out a snow bank hidden by some bushes. Once they reached it he dragged Kimiko behind them.

He expected her to put up a fight, but she was just too tired, and actually appreciated the break.

While Itachi tried to catch his breath, regain control of his wavering eyesight, and fight off the poison, Kimiko searcher around her weapons pouch with her good arm.

"What are you doing?" he asked when he saw the movement.

"We're leaving a blood trail. See?" she said as she pulled out a roll of bandages and pointed to the stained snow under them, "We need to bandage our wounds."

The truth is that Itachi could barely make anything out by now, so he remained silent.

Kimiko took his silence for a yes and handed him the bandages. "Start with your leg," she said, "I'll need help bandaging the wound on my stomach."

After he finished bandaging his leg, Kimiko lifted her shirt up part way, and he promptly began securing her wound.

As his fingers brushed her skin, Kimiko shivered.

When he finished, Itachi said, "We should go."

Kimiko nodded, and they took off.

* * *

Aoi swore. They'd been following a blood trail, but now it was gone. It had led to a covered snow bank, and it was obvious that the Anbu ninja had been there, but now they were gone and seemed to be much more cautious.

Tayuya jumped down out of the trees, "Looks like your team isn't all it's cracked up to be," she sneered.

"Shut up," huffed Aoi, "I don't see you're team doing any better. Besides, I have a plan. Send you're team to keep looking for the girl."

She glared at him, but nodded to her team, and they resumed their search.

He then pointed to half of his remaining team of rain ninja, "You four, keep looking as well," he turned to the rest of them, "You four, go watch the roads leading to Konoha. If they try to get back, well have them. You, come with me," he said to Tayuya.

She increased her glare; if looks could kill, he'd be dead tem times over.

"And why should I?" she asked suspiciously.

"Simple, I've got connections, and you, being the bitch you are, don't," stated Aoi in a holier than thou way.

Reluctantly, Tayuya followed him to a small village near the land of Earth.

* * *

They had been running for about a day now. The only things Itachi could see were vague shapes and colors now. If it was because of the poison or his exhaustion, he didn't know.

All he knew was that he was ready to collapse.

They walked with their arms supporting each other, neither could last much longer, and then Kimiko saw it, a house in the distance, all alone in the middle of nowhere.

"There's a house ahead," she mumbled to Itachi, "I'm sure we can rest there. It's just a little farther."

They finally got to the house and Kimiko knocked on the door. After a couple seconds, the door opened, but Itachi had reached his limit and blacked out.

* * *

Aoi led Tayuya to a small herb and medicine shop. A bell tinkled as they entered.

A woman with white hair and gnarled hands came from the back of the shop. Everything about her betrayed her age except for her soft brown eyes that couldn't belong to anyone over thirty.

"Rokusho, Aoi. Come for more poisoned senbon? Look! You brought your girlfriend this time," she said. Some how her voice was light and happy, while she herself looked unapproachable.

"Tayuya, this is Suimenei Ami. Ami, Tayuya, and she is not my girlfriend!" introduced Aoi.

"Really? But you two look so _close_," said Ami in what was meant to come out sarcastic, but instead sounded serious.

"Like I would ever willingly associate myself with scum like him!" yelled Tayuya.

"Look who's talking!" Aoi yelled back!

"You sure you aren't together? You fight like an old married couple," said Ami.

Aoi snapped himself out of the fight and turned to Ami, "I just need you to keep an eye out for some ninja for me. Can you do that?"

"Who do you want me to look for and why?" asked the ever inquisitive Ami.

Tayuya took out a picture of Kimiko and Itachi. "We're looking for them. You don't need to know why."

Ami was about to ask another question when she was stopped by Aoi. "Just keep an eye out for them and get the word out. If you do that, next time I drop by, I'll pay you double for the poisoned senbon."

Ami weighed her options, "Done," she said.

"Good."

* * *

As Itachi awoke, he heard the sounds of a crackling fire and felt a soft bed beneath him. He also felt someone poking his face repeatedly. He groaned as he tried to open his heavy eyelids. The cut on his thigh throbbed, but it was still better than it had been before he blacked out.

"Sachiko! Leave that poor young man alone!" said and older, kind sounding voice.

"Sorry, Yori-Bachan!" said the person that had been poking his face. The voice itself sounded like it belonged to someone around Kimiko's age, but the tone sounded like someone about teen years younger.

Itachi sat up and swung his feet around to the side of the bed.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Itachi," said Kimiko, her voice got louder as she came into the room, "It's been two days. I was wor-" Kimiko came to an abrupt halt when she saw him.

"What happened to you?" she whispered as she looked at his cloudy obsidian eyes.

Itachi turned his head to where her voice was coming from, but he couldn't see a thing. His whole world was dark.

* * *

*insert climactic music here*

There you have it!

Once again, the holiday gift is still available, just see the end of last chapter for details. The poll is still avilable as well. Thank you to the three readers that voted.

Thanks for reading! Please Review!


	20. Hope

Chapter 20! Oh this is so exciting! There's a small rant coming up so if you don't want to read it, just skip to the story.

So I finally understand why people can take up to half a year to update anything. You lose the momentum of writing the story until you actually sit down to type up the chapter. When you first start out, you're so excited and you can't wait to get more written down. I know that the first four chapters of this story were out within two days of each other. But you start slowing down, and the chapters come out after longer periods of time until some people put their story on hiatus or just stop it. (Don't worry that won't be what happens here.) It's like you just lose the inspiration to write. But! I will not let that happen to me. I'm going to cage my plot bunnies and not let them go! Which is why I try to update at least once a week. To feed my plot bunnies so that the above mentioned, doesn't happen to me!

Ok. Rant's over.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

"You're blind!" whispered Kimiko in shock.

Itachi sighed. He'd known what was happening to him the moment his eyesight had started going bad after he escaped the poison cloud. "There's nothing we can do about it now. The important thing is for us to stay hidden," he reasoned, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere near the border of the Land of Earth," explained Kimiko, Yori has been kind enough to stitch up our wounds and let us stay here."

Yori insisted, "Oh, It's been my pleasure."

"And mine!" piped up Sachiko as she ran off to find something interesting to do.

Suddenly Yori grew sad, "In truth it's wonderful having some company. It really does get lonely out here."

Remembering that this was the only house for miles, Itachi asked, "Then why do you two live out here?"

"Oh, that's right dear. You can't see it, but Sachiko is actually eighteen. She's stuck with the mindset of a seven year old. She kept getting into trouble, and people in the village noticed that she was developing slower than the other children her age. She just wasn't learning from her mistakes and the townspeople were growing annoyed. So I took her and left, for her sake as much as theirs," explained Yori.

Everyone sat in silence for a moment, "I'm...so sorry," said Kimiko as she thought about how hard growing up must have been for Sachiko.

Yori shook her head. "Where are my manners?" she smiled, "I found some civilian clothes for you two to wear. I'll go get them."

As the door closed, Kimiko looked at Itachi seriously, "We should leave as soon as we can. I don't want to involve these people more than we have to."

Itachi nodded, "Unfortunately I don't think we'll be able to leave as soon as we'd like."

He bit his thumb and performed several hand signs, "Summoning Jutsu!" he yelled.

A beautiful raven appeared on the bed before them.

"Hayai, I need you to scout all the roads leading to Konoha from here. We need to know if they're being watched. Fly swiftly and don't be followed," ordered Itachi.

The raven nodded and flew out the window that Kimiko had just opened.

"Here they are!" said Yori cheerfully as she returned with a pile of clothes. She handed one half to Itachi and the other to Kimiko. "They might not be an exact fit, but they'll do," she assured them.

Kimiko left with Yori to get changed and Itachi started undressing. As he threw his weapons pouch on the bedside table, the flap opened and something rolled out. It mad a small tinkling sound, and Itachi felt around the table until he found it.

It was smooth and cold. A little glass jar of some sort. All of a sudden he realized that it was Kimiko's treasured possession. He put it back down and quickly finished dressing.

* * *

Reiko and Shisui finally had made it back to Konoha. Surprisingly, they'd had no problems getting there. Currently, they were standing it the Hokage's office, turning the scroll in and giving the mission report.

"We got ambushed and separated," explained Shisui, trying to stay professional, "They were supposed to meet us at a rendezvous point, but they never showed up. I think that our enemies were planning this for a while."

"Who ambushed you?" asked Tsunade.

"The Rain ninja, but it looked like a team of Sound ninja had orchestrated everything," replied Shisui.

"Orochimaru," growled Tsunade.

"We don't have time for this!" yelled Reiko losing patience, "They're still out there, wounded! It's only a matter of time before they get found!"

Tsunade sighed, "Reiko's right. I'll find a way to deal with Orochimaru later. Right now, our priority is to find Itachi and Kimiko."

"Shizune!"

"Yes Milady!"

"Track down Yamato, Kakashi, Kiba, and Neji. I've got a mission for them."

"Milady, with all due respect, I'd like to lead this mission," offered Shisui.

"No, you two are to go to the hospital and then get some well deserved rest," ordered Tsunade.

"But-" started Reiko.

"No 'buts', it's been decided!" yelled Tsunade.

* * *

Itachi slowly felt his way into the living room. He felt a lot of heat coming from one side of the room. "That must be where the fire is," the thought.

"We'll have to burn our uniforms," said Kimiko from in front of the fire, "I think we should keep the tantos though."

"Hn," Itachi agreed as he handed his uniform to her to be placed on the fire. "Where are Yori and Sachiko?" he asked.

"They went to the garden to get some food for dinner. They'll be back soon."

Itachi carefully sat down next to where he thought Kimiko was.

"I found something of yours," he said as he took out the little jar. He heard a small gasp as Kimiko gingerly took it from his hands.

"I thought I had lost it in the fight," she said, "Thank you,"

"What is it? Tobi said that you've had it ever since you joined his team," asked Itachi.

Kimiko smiled and looked into the fire, "I've actually had it ever since the day I met you. Crystal type chakra is...was my clan's kekkei genkai, but not everyone in my clan got it. My sister had it, and I'd always looked up to her, wishing I could be just like her. The day I met you, we were using chakra paper in class to see what type we were. The crystal dust in that bottle is what's left of the chakra paper. It gave me hope, and now every time I look at that bottle, I see my sister giving me the hope I need to go on," Kimiko looked up and smiled, "Of course when I met you later that day I got the determination to drive me on," she joked.

Itachi smiled, "Sounds like you had a good sister."

Kimiko nodded, "The best. I looked up to her and Guren so much."

"Sometimes I wish I could have been there like that for Sasuke," said Itachi, "After I turned thirteen, I got caught up in all my Anbu missions. On top of that I still had to train to be the next leader of the Uchiha clan. I missed watching my little brother grow up," said Itachi sadly.

Kimiko smiled and started to say something when the door burst open.

"Who wants vegetable stew for dinner?" yelled Yori.

Sachiko bounced in I picked all of the vegetables myself!" she said proudly.

Yori gave Sachiko a 'tell the truth' look as she took the vegetables into the kitchen.

"Well, most of them anyways," admitted Sachiko bashfully.

Kimiko giggled some and even Itachi chuckled.

* * *

Kiba, Kakashi, Yamato, and Neji stood before the Hokage.

"Your mission," said Tsunade after she had explained what happened on the mission to retrieve the scroll, "Is to find Kimiko and Itachi and bring them back. You should know that they also have Rain and Sound ninja after them, so be careful. You have two weeks to find them. If you can't find them by then, we have to assume the worst."

"We understand Milady," said Kakashi sadly. Kimiko was like a sister to him. Ever since he had brought her back from the ruins of the massacre, he'd been keeping an eye on her. He'd even made sure that she had settled into the Academy nicely. It broke his heart to know that she could be dead.

"Good," said Tsunade, "Pack up. You leave at dawn."

"Yes Hokage-sama!" they all said in unison as the teleported away.

Tsunade sighed, "Now what are we going to do about Orochimaru."

* * *

Hayai returned to the little cabin at dusk that night.

"All of the roads to Konoha are being watched sir, " said the Raven, there's no way you'll be able to get back undetected."

"Thank you Hayai," said Itachi, "You may go."

"Yes sir!" said the raven as it went back to it's own world.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kimiko.

"We're just going to have to lay low for a while and wait until they give up or something else happens," answered Itachi, "The one thing we can't do is go back to Konoha."

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please Review!

The poll is still open and so is the offer to have and Oc appear in the story! See the end of Ch 18, Ambush for details!


	21. Trouble

No, I am not dead. I was just on vacation and didn't have any internet connection. But I am back now so we can all do a little happy dance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

One Week Later

Itachi and Kimiko had spent the week resting at Yori's cabin. Their wounds were healing nicely, and the stitches would be able to come out shortly. Unfortunately, Kimiko's broken arm would take a month or two to fully heal, and Itachi's sight showed no sign of recovery.

Despite these set backs, Itachi and Kimiko knew that they had stayed to long and needed to come up with a plan to get back to Konoha.

Kimiko walked into Itachi's room with a map of all the countries and spread it out on the bed.

"We need to figure out what direction to go after we leave," declared Kimiko.

"I agree," said Itachi as he sat up, "We've been to complacent."

Kimiko looked at the map, "Right now we're somewhere near the boarders of the Countries of Earth and Rain."

"We obviously can't go straight to Konoha, or any where near Ame," pondered Itachi, "In our conditions, we won't be able to fight or travel for long periods of time."

"We'll have to stay away from Konoha for a while," agreed Kimiko, "We'll have to travel incognito and stay in small towns until our bodies have healed enough to camp on the road."

"If we can make it to Suna, we'd be able to easily get back to Konoha if we could hire an escort team from them," offered Itachi.

"The trick will be getting there without running into Aoi or Tayuya..." murmured Kimiko as she studied the map, "What if we traveled around Bird country and into Wind country. It'll take longer, but it will put a whole country in between the Rain country and us. That way, if they send out extra ninja, it will take them longer to get to us."

"If we use that plan and take in to account the extra breaks we'll need until we've healed, if we leave here within the week we should be home in about a month and a half," calculated Itachi, "It may take a while, but it's the best plan we have."

A knock came at the door, and Yori popped her head in.

"I have to go into town and buy some more medicinal herbs," she explained, "Can you look after Sachiko for me? I should be back by dinner. It's only a two hour walk into town."

"Of course we will," said Kimiko.

"It's the least we could do for you," agreed Itachi.

"Thank you so much!" sighed Yori, "I always worry about her so much."

* * *

Sasuke waited silently for the Hokage to speak.

Tsunade sighed heavily as she looked up from her desk, "I wish I didn't have to do this, but Orochimaru has left us no choice. He has to be stopped permanently. Sasuke, your mission is to go under cover and infiltrate Orochimaru's lair. Get as close as you can to him and kill him. Now is the only chance you will have to back out of this mission. Do you accept it?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," said Sasuke stoically.

"Good," said Tsunade, "The official story is that you defected and ran away from Konoha to join Orochimaru. Your reason is that you want to gain more power and, with you being the second son to the leader of the Uchiha Clan, you weren't getting enough power. You may not tell anyone about this mission. You leave tonight, and upon you're return, you will be welcomed back into the village. Dismissed."

Sasuke bowed to Tsunade and left without a word.

* * *

Sachiko happily skipped into Itachi's room while Yori walked out the front door.

She jumped on the bed, "So what are we gonna do?" she asked excitedly.

"Well we were planning to work on Itachi's agility now that he's blind, but-" Kimiko didn't get to finish her sentence before Sachiko started to beg to help.

Kimiko wanted to help Itachi, but she also didn't want Sachiko and Him to get hurt. She couldn't figure out how to go about helping him and pleasing Sachiko.

Suddenly, she got a great idea.

"Yes," answered Kimiko, "Sachiko, grab all the pillows you can and meet us outside."

Sachiko scurried off to find extra pillows while Itachi sat their looking as confused as any normal Uchiha could look.

* * *

Kakashi, Kiba, Neji and Yamato had been traveling for four days when they found the spot of the initial fight.

After looking around the fight scene, Kiba spoke up, "It looks like they were seriously out numbered," he said. Akamaru yipped in response.

"Byakugan!" shouted Neji, "I can see a total of ten bodies. Eight are Rain ninja and two are from Otogakure. Itachi and Kimiko aren't here."

Everyone breathed a little sigh of relief and started looking for tracks of some sort.

After several minutes of searching, Yamato shouted, "Over here! I found some blood!"

"Well yeah," said Kiba, "There's blood everywhere!"

"No," said Kakashi, who had come over to see what Yamato had found, "This is a blood trail. Let's go!"

All three ninja ran after Kakashi who was intently following the trail.

* * *

Kimiko and Itachi were waiting outside the house in a clear space when Sachiko ran out with about a dozen small pillows.

"What are we going to do with all of these?" asked Sachiko eagerly.

"Well, Itachi is going to stand here," said Kimiko as she guided Itachi to a spot several feet away, "and we, are going to throw these pillows at him while he tries to dodge them."

"How is this going to help him?" asked Sachiko apprehensively.

"Simple, he'll be training his ears to pick up the sounds of things being hurled at him, and he'll get to work on dodging them without tripping over anything he can't see," explained Kimiko, "It'll be fun."

Sachiko hesitantly picked up a pillow and tossed it in Itachi's direction. It fell short of its target by about three feet.

"Try again, just throw harder. Like this!" said Kimiko as she nailed Itachi in the face.

Sachiko giggled as Itachi struggled with the pillow, picked another one up and threw it at him.

Itachi hurriedly tried to avoid the pillows pelting his body, "I bet hanging with Shisui gave her this idea," he grumbled.

* * *

As Yori entered the dim medicine shop, a small bell above the door tinkled.

Ami walked out from the back room. "Yori! What can I get you?" she asked in a seemingly pleasant manner.

"Oh, just some more of the usual herbs," said Yori.

"You just picked some up two weeks ago why would you need more?" asked Ami calmly.

Yori however wasn't so calm. She had seen the wanted signs for Itachi and Kimiko in the town and knew that they were in trouble.

"Did you hear about those two Anbu everyone's looking for?" asked Ami in her attempt at small talk.

"Y-yes," Yori stuttered a little, "I wonder what they did."

"Here you are," said Ami as she handed Yori her herbs, "Why did you say you needed more so soon?

"Oh, Sachiko had a tantrum again and hurt herself," lied Yori, "Goodbye," she said as she hurried out the door.

Ami waved slightly then turned and went into the back room. She wrote a quick message and tied it to her messenger hawk.

"This goes to Aoi," she told it as it took off.

On the letter were only three words:

_I found them._

Thank's for reading. Please review.

The poll is still open, just go to my profile.


	22. Fire

Hey guys! So with the new year, my life suddenly got more busy. And on top of all that stuff I'm trying to write my friend a song. I can't play any instrument,, so I have to teach myself to do that too. I'm questioning is that project will ever get done. Anyways, I'll still try to update once a week, but I can't guarantee it.

**I also have a new poll. It's just asking if you are a boy or girl. It's on my profile. I just got bored and put it up there. I'm wondering if my readers are mostly girls (probably) or guys. It's just for fun. Don't do it if you don't want to. It's your life.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The Next Day

Even if her methods were a little unconventional, they worked. Itachi was getting better and better at being able to understand what was going on around him.

They were practicing in a clearing a good ways away from Yori's little hut. Itachi stood in the middle of the clearing and Kimiko would try to attack him randomly. So far he was doing well. They'd be able to leave soon.

Back at the Hut

Sachiko was happily picking vegetables from the green house while Yori cleaned the house.

Sachiko hummed a little happy song. This past week had been wonderful and she wished that Kimiko and Itachi could stay with them forever. People weren't usually nice to her, but for some reason these two were.

She was just finishing up when a male and female shadow fell on her. She looked up and a scream rose in her throat.

* * *

In Konoha

"You can't do this!" roared Fugaku as he angrily slammed his fists on Tsunade's desk, "I won't allow it!"

Tsunade massaged her temples in an attempt to stop her oncoming migraine. "I don't know what you're talking about Fugaku," she sighed.

"My eldest son is MIA and now Sasuke has defected from the village! Don't tell me that you don't know anything about that," he said as he glared at the Hokage.

"If Sasuke defected from the village, he did that on his own," lied Tsunade, "I've already sent ninja out after him. It's up to then to bring him back."

"Don't give me that shit!" Fugaku all but growled, "I know that you have something to do with this."

"Do you have proof or are you just yelling at me because you can't yell at Itachi anymore?" snapped Tsunade.

"I never-" stared Fugaku, but Tsunade cut him off.

"Don't lie to me Uchiha," she snapped, "I know more than you think. Now if you're done here then you can go."

Fugaku glared at the busty women with such ferocity that you could almost feel the waves of hate coming off of him.

After a couple seconds Tsunade glared, "That wasn't an order Uchiha."

Fugaku teleported out in defeat.

* * *

Back at the Cabin

Yori was washing dishes when she heard the door open and close. "Sachiko," she yelled to the other room, "Have you finished? you can just bring the vegetables in here."

After a couple seconds of complete silence Yori started to get worried, "Sachiko?" she called.

After she got no reply a second time, she set her dishes down and walked into the hallway.

In the hallway were a male and female shinobi. The male threw something at her feet. It was Sachiko's head.

"Oh!" sobbed Yori as she stared at the young woman's head.

"We heard that you've had some company for the past week," said the girl, "Tell us where the shinobi are and we won't cut off you're head."

Yori sobbed but lied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man punched her, his eyes wide with blood thirst. "Don't lie to us, bitch! We know that they're here."

"No one's here! sobbed Yori, "It's just me now."

The man punched her again.

"We have all day bitch," said the woman.

* * *

Kakashi raced through the forest. They had lost the blood trail long ago and were now relying solely on Kiba's nose and Neji's byakugan.

"I hate snow," voiced Kiba, "Everything always smells damp or like water."

"Keep trying," said Yamato, "We must be getting close now"

A beaten and bruised Yori lay on the floor.

"I'll ask you one more time. Where are they?" said the woman.

Hoping that they'd just leave her alone she said, "They're gone. They left two days ago."

Suddenly another shinobi showed up at her doorway.

"Tayuya, Aoi. I looked around. They aren't here," said the mystery shinobi.

The man now known as Aoi crouched down to her level, "Which way did they go?" he asked.

Yori thought fast. She knew that Itachi and Kimiko were training in the east woods. "West," she told them, "They went west."

Aoi stood up and kicked the old woman before turning to Rinji, "You can deal with the bodies, I don't care what happens to them just destroy them. Meet up with us later."

Rinji glared at Aoi as he and Tayuya walked out. "Yeah, whatever," he mumbled under his breath as he approached the old woman.

* * *

They had been practicing for three hours when Itachi noticed something. It was very subtle. He almost couldn't notice it. It was some kind of smell.

Just then Kimiko lashed out at him. He quickly caught her fist. "Kimiko," he said.

"Hm?"

"Something's wrong. I just can't tell what," he said, "Do you notice anything?

Kimiko looked around the clearing. At first glance she didn't see anything, but on further inspection, she saw a thick cloud of smoke just barely rising over the tree tops.

Suddenly something clicked in her brain, "There's smoke coming from the cabin!" She looked at Itachi with a panicked look, and even though he couldn't see it, he could feel it there. They bolted for the cabin.

* * *

Rinji sat and watched the cabin burn. He was getting ready to leave when Itachi and Kimiko burst out of the trees breathing heavily.

He just stared at them for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Looks like you were here after all," he laughed, "And look at you two! One's blind and can't fight, and the other only has one arm at her disposal!"

Something in Kimiko snapped, she formed a crystal sword and ran at Rinji. Just as she got to him, his bats came out and her crystal sword disintegrated from their screeching.

"You can't touch me with that," he reminded her as she tried attacking him again and again in vain. "Think of Lord Orochimaru's reaction when I bring you to him instead of Tayu-" he stopped cold when he felt the cool metal of a blade at his neck.

He slowly turned his head and saw that Itachi had crept up behind him during his fight with Kimiko.

"You shouldn't underestimate your enemies," said Itachi as he cut Rinji's throat.

As the blood stained the orange tinted snow and the fire raged on, Kimiko fell to her knees with tears pouring down her face.

Itachi just stood there and gave her some space.

After about five minutes, she stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Let's go," she said, "We need to keep moving now that they found us."

Itachi nodded and they both started down the road that would eventually lead them to Suna, but not before making sure they covered their tracks properly this time.

* * *

Several Hours Later

Kakashi stared at the burnt down house. The wood was only smoldering now, but it was still very hot.

Kiba and Akamaru were sniffing around, and Neji was looking ahead for any trace of Itachi and Kimiko. Yamato was inspecting the now burned and unidentifiable body.

Kiba came back around the house, "They were definitely here. I don't know if they escaped the fire or not."

Neji came up, "I don't see any signs of tracks," he said If they were here, they're long gone now."

Yamato joined then with the worst news, I found the bodies of what looked to be an older lady and a girl around Kimiko's age in house. The only other body is a young man's but that's also burnt too. They were probably recuperating from the fight and got caught off guard."

Kakashi looked to Neji, "And you're positive that there aren't any traces of someone escaping from the fire?"

Neji nodded.

Kakashi sighed, "Then we go home. The official report will be that Uchiha Itachi and Kurisutaru Kimiko were killed in action."

As Kakashi turned away from the ruins, he couldn't help but silently cry for the little girl he found ten years ago, sleeping next to her burnt village.

* * *

Yay! Chapter done! Hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading please review and take my poll!


	23. Mistakes

I know I haven't updated in a while but: Excuse time, excuse time, it's time for excuse time! First it snowed here for a week and I didn't get anything done, then my computer died, then School loaded us down with homework because we missed a week due to snow. And I was busy with other stuff.

I know it's kind of short and that you deserve a longer chapter, but at least you have a chapter. Right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

A week had passed since they had returned. The village was devastated to learn of the two shinobi's deaths, the Uchiha clan especially.

Now that Sasuke had left the village, and Itachi was pronounced dead, the clan was in turmoil. Who would succeed Fugaku now that both sons were gone?

Many leaned towards Shisui, but a final verdict couldn't be made until Fugaku agreed, and he refused to see anyone.

* * *

Kakashi stared blankly at the small stone covered with names of great shinobi from the past. Now that the two new names had been added, he found himself there more often than not.

He didn't know how long he had been standing there. All he knew was that he was supposed to be meeting Naruto and Sakura for more training, but he couldn't seem to pull himself away from the stone.

He heard the rustle of movement behind him but still refused to move.

"Still mourning Obito?" asked the gentle voice of Mikoto.

"Yes," sighed Kakashi as he tore his gaze away from the stone and turned to face Mikoto. "Of course now I have more than one reason for being here…" he trailed off.

Mikoto stepped forward and set a single white chrysanthemum on the pedestal of the memorial stone.

"Thank you, by the way," Mikoto said as she stood up.

"For what?" wondered Kakashi.

"For going after them," answered Mikoto, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If it's any consolation, I know that Itachi would have saved Kimiko if he could have."

Kakashi didn't say anything; his gaze had shifted up to the clear, blue winter sky.

"She was a nice young lady," mused Mikoto as she walked off.

"Yes, she was," murmured Kakashi as he stared at the endless blue above him.

* * *

Kimiko had been sulking and keeping to herself all week. Itachi didn't know how to handle her. In all the years he'd been dating Reiko, he'd never encountered a mood quite like this. For some reason it bothered him that he couldn't help her.

Kimiko had been sitting in the corner of the shabby, little room ever since they got in.

They had been making good time, considering their conditions, but after a streak of clear skies, a snow storm decided to roll in. They'd been stuck in the hotel room for almost twenty four hours and Itachi was getting restless. If he was going to be blind, he at least wanted to be in as good of a fighting condition as he could, and with Kimiko's state, she wasn't going to help him.

Suddenly he heard movement from her corner of the room.

"I'm sorry," she said.

She was finally talking, this was good. Itachi silently waited for her to continue.

"I made a mistake. You were unable to lead the mission and I decided that we should stay in one place for too long. My decision almost got us killed. My decision got _them _killed. I shouldn't be an Anbu, I'm not ready."

"You were picked to be an Anbu for a reason. If you weren't ready, then you wouldn't be one. You made a good decision based on the situation. It was by chance that they found us," asserted Itachi, "But, if something like this happens again, you can't keep shutting me out. We need to be able to trust and rely on one another, and I can't do that if you ignore me. Do you understand? This could mean the difference between life and death."

Kimiko started to nod, but then remembered that Itachi was blind and said, "Yes."

* * *

Temari wandered around Konoha looking for Kimiko. It had been a while since she'd visited, and she wanted to catch up with her old friend.

After searching the whole village and finding no sign of Kimiko she went to the Uchiha compound to see if Shisui would know.

Upon entering the compound, she found a crying Tobi clutching a struggling Shisui as if his life depended on it.

She cleared her throat and the boys looked up. Tobi immediately unlatched from Shisui and attached himself to Temari.

"WAH! Ita-chan and Kimi-chan are gone!"

"What?" asked Temari "Are they on a mission? Do you know when Kimiko will be back? I'm only here for so long and wanted to see her."

Tobi sniffed and shook his head, "They're dead!" he sobbed.

"What!" Temari asked again, "Dead? That can't be! I know Kimiko and she-"

"They aren't dead," said Shisui roughly, "I refuse to believe it."

"But Kakashi-san looked for then and even _he_ couldn't find them," said a teary eyed Tobi.

"Yeah, well there's a reason that Itachi is in Anbu and Kakashi isn't," argued Shisui.

"Kakashi quit," said Tobi.

"Would someone just tell me what's going on!" yelled Temari.

Shisui sighed, "Itachi, Reiko. Kimiko and I got sent on a mission. It was a success, but on the way back, we were ambushed. We separated and Itachi and Kimiko haven't come back yet. Simple as that."

"No!" said Tobi, "Kakashi-san and a bunch of other tracking ninja looked for them and found their dead bodies."

"That's not them Tobi!" yelled a frustrated Shisui, "Itachi wouldn't let them get caught that easily."

"Yeah," joined in Temari trying to be optimistic, "Kimiko's worked too hard for this. She wouldn't just let some rogue ninja kill her off."

"But, then why didn't Kakashi-san's team find them!" whined Tobi, "They had ninja dogs and everything!"

Temari thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with a good answer. Lucky for her that Shisui seemed to know exactly what to say to that question, "If Itachi and Kimiko really didn't want to be found, do you really think that even Kakashi and his ninja dogs would find them? Itachi's been at this for years. If they couldn't get to us, then he would have both of them go into hiding. It's just a coincidence that they found two bodies. I hope," he whispered the last part.

* * *

Thank you for reading and please review!

I love all of my wonderful readers!


	24. Reiko

Sorry for the long wait. I've recently discovered how horrible writers block is, but it's here now, so be happy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

One Week Later

"AHH!" screamed a woman giving birth down the hall.

Sakura sighed as she washed her hands and looked over at Reiko. The older girl had barely left the hospital since the mission. She was supposed to be on leave, but she just came here instead.

Sakura wondered how she or any of the Uchihas did it. It had only been about a week since Sasuke left and Itachi was declared dead and, they had already seemed to move on. The only difference that she could tell was how much Reiko frequented the hospital.

She looked at the Uchiha standing across from her. If she was devastated just by Sasuke's leaving, she couldn't even imagine how Reiko felt right now.

Sakura put on her best smile and said, "You've been working her a lot recently. Shouldn't you ask for a day off? After all, with what's happened recently-"

Without even looking up from her paperwork, Reiko cut her off, "I don't need it, nor do I want it."

Sakura wouldn't let the older girl's cold attitude disturb her. After all, she'd dealt with plenty of stubborn patients as well as Uchihas before. This was no different. She tried again, "It's bad for you to work so much without a break. As a nurse you should know that."

This time Reiko put down the paperwork, looked up at the pink-haired nurse and said, "I said I don't need a break. I'm fine," and with that she picked up a new file and began reading it.

Sakura sighed and decided to try connecting with Reiko one more time, "Look. I know how hard on you this whole situation must be. That's why I think you should take some time off. You need to recover from this."

Reiko's file snapped shut and she glared at the chunin, "Don't you dare say you know how hard this is on me. You don't know anything about my situation, and time off is the last thing I need," he snapped.

Tsunade entered the room, "Actually, Reiko, time off is exactly what you need. I put you on leave so that you'd have time to recover. You don't need any more added stress. It's bad for your body, and since you won't voluntarily take a break, I'm turning it into an order: go home," commanded Tsunade.

Reiko looked back and forth between the Hokage and Sakura before calmly putting her file down and walking out of the hospital.

* * *

Kimiko carefully flexed her arm. It had been just over a month since they were ambushed, and her arm had almost completely healed. On top of that, the only thing that remained of their wounds were some nasty looking scars.

They were staying in yet another run down hotel for the night. Kimiko looked through their bags while Itachi practiced focusing on his surroundings. He had gotten pretty good at it now; he could tell from the rustling, where Kimiko was sitting and what she was handling. He could also tell where the only window in the room was based on the waning sunlight, and if he focused, he could hear the fly buzzing at the window.

Kimiko stood up, "We're running out of food. I'm going to go down to the market and get some. I'll be back in a minute," she said as she walked towards the door.

Itachi panicked, "No!" In a flash, Itachi was in front of the door blocking her way.

Taken aback, Kimiko asked, "What's wrong?"

There was a slight pause before Itachi answered, "We shouldn't split up, even for a moment. We're still being tracked, and could be attacked at any time. We can't afford to lose track of each other. I'm coming with you."

Kimiko raised her eyebrow, "It's just the market. I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

Itachi didn't say anything; he just stared at where he thought her face was, refusing to move.

She sighed, "You're probably right," a small smile crept onto the corner of her mouth, "It would be bad for us to get separated."

* * *

When Reiko got home she went straight to her room and shut the door. As soon as she was there, she sank to the floor and tears rolled down her cheeks. All her pent up sadness was let out. The only thing that had been keeping it back was the fact that she was able to keep herself busy and her mind off of his death, but now it all came pouring out.

She had been with Itachi for three years, and contrary to what many people believed, they were together because they wanted to be. Not because Fugaku made them be in a relationship. She loved Itachi, and now she had lost him.

She moved to her bed and hugged a pillow. "It's my fault we couldn't get away from the fight together," she thought, "If I had just been stronger, maybe I could have been more help. He should have been able to rely on me just as much as Shisui or Kimiko. Kimiko, was she even ready for this? I know that she's trained hard to get to this point, but even Itachi had problems during the ambush. I was her teammate longer that Itachi or Shisui. I know her fighting style. If I had helped her, maybe she could have gotten out alive."

She looked at a picture of Itachi and her before they were together when they were younger, on her bedside table. They looked happy. They were playing with Sasuke and Shisui. It was before Sasuke was even at the academy and before Itachi was in Anbu. It was before anyone had to worry about being the next head of the Uchiha clan, or if a teammate would die on the next mission. It was back when all she and Shisui wanted was a more dangerous mission, just so they could prove how capable they were. It was back when they could just be happy and carefree.

Reiko closed her eyes, and as she fell asleep. She dreamed of a happier time, where for once, no one had to die.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review!


	25. Trust

Chapter 25! This arc is almost over! (Wow its getting hard to think up new chapter titles!)

Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Schauspielerinnen. Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy your chapter. I know its a day late, but in the US, technically, I'm only 34 minutes late.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Itachi and Kimiko were walking through a peaceful forest in a comfortable silence.

It had been about a month and a half since Itachi and Kimiko had last seen Konoha, and they were finally making good time towards home.

In the past month and a half, they had learned to trust each other and had come to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. They were almost completely dependent on each other, especially since Itachi's sight showed no signs of getting better.

By now, Itachi had learned to cope with his limitation, and even found a way to use it to his advantage. Because his eyesight was lost, his other senses were heightened. He could hear a squirrel rustling some leaves in a tree a hundred meters away, and he used the feel of the sun on his skin (or lack of it) to determine where objects that could be blocking it were located. To any passerby, he's look like a completely normal person.

He also had another sense of sorts. He had become aware of Kimiko's presence, if she was in the same room, or even within hearing distance, he could tell exactly where she was.

Itachi listened to Kimiko's soft breathing as they walked; somehow it was comforting to know she was next to him. He was completely at ease around her, which was saying something. The only people he'd ever really been comfortable around were Sasuke, Shisui, and Reiko. He wasn't used to letting people near him, but it felt good to know that there was someone he could completely trust.

* * *

Kimiko was comfortable walking next to Itachi. She felt like she really understood him now that they'd spent so much time together. She was getting used to having him around all the time. He was a good teacher as well as a good friend.

It saddened her to think about what would happen when they got back to Konoha. He'd get pulled into the Uchiha clan again. He was the heir after all, everyone would be ecstatic to have him back, especially Reiko.

Kimiko sighed sadly and subconsciously, Itachi brushed his hand against hers for a split second in a sign of comfort. Kimiko was still stuck in her musings.

Once they did get back, would she ever see Itachi again? She was sure that Fugaku wouldn't want the heir of the clan to go on any more dangerous missions after this, especially now that he was blind. He'd want Itachi to get married to Reiko and settle down.

Kimiko smiled sadly. At least Itachi would get half of his ideal world. He never liked fighting or killing much, he was really a pacifist. The only reason he was a ninja was to try to help keep the countries at peace.

He didn't even want to be the heir of the clan. In fact, she was sure that. Even though he'd never say it, he'd much rather spend his time with Sasuke or watching Tobi and Shisui goof off.

Kimiko looked up at the bright blue sky while birds chirped in the distance. At least she this time with him now, Aoi and Tayuya hadn't managed to find them yet, and with any luck, they'd make it back to Konoha without any more problems.

* * *

Tayuya, Aoi, and the rest of the Sound and Rain ninja had set up a camp site near a river and were looking at a map of all of the countries.

Aoi slammed his fist down on the makeshift table, "We've looked everywhere between Amegakure and Konoha! Where could they be?"

"You aren't thinking hard enough idiot," commented Tayuya uninterestedly. She had gotten tired of this goose chase long ago, and Aoi's obsession with finding them wasn't making it any better.

"This is Itachi Uchiha we're talking about, _the_ Itachi Uchiha. He knows that well be waiting for them outside of Konoha, and that girl isn't exactly stupid either," said Tayuya. A hawk cawed outside. "What's more, they're both injured. They'll probably look for somewhere closer."

"Somewhere closer," murmured Aoi, "somewhere safe…hah! They'll be heading for a nation Konoha is allied with! And the closest one is Suna!"

Tayuya clapped sarcastically, "Good job, you aren't a complete moron after all."

Aoi started to object, but just then a sound ninja came in with a scroll. "Tayuya, a messenger hawk just arrived with this. It's addressed to you."

Tayuya took the scroll and unrolled it, then looked back up at the sound ninja, "What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Leave," she said as she looked back down at the scroll. It read:

_Tayuya,_

_Good news. Lord Orochimaru has found himself a powerful and willing vessel himself since you seem to be unable to procure the vessel you went after._

_No worries though, he isn't angry with you. We had an Uchiha deliver himself straight to us. _

_You are ordered to report back to the base. Lord Orochimaru has more important things for you to do than chasing after someone that is clearly out of your league._

_You have one week to get here before Lord Orochimaru loses his patience and decides to send you back to the lab for experiments._

_Kabuto._

Tayuya scoffed, "Pleasant as always I see." She looked up at Aoi, "Well, have fun killing the girl," she turned and yelled at the remaining sound ninja, "Pack up losers! We're leaving!"

"What!" asked Aoi sharply?

"I was losing interest, and now that I have orders to leave, I don't have to stick around anymore," smirked Tayuya.

"Fine," Aoi retorted coldly, "I don't even need you. Now that I know where they're headed, I can take care of them myself. Both of them!" He turned and yelled at his Rain ninja, "We're leaving too! I've found out where the girl and the Uchiha are headed!"

* * *

The Next Day

Itachi and Kimiko were getting closer to Suna. They only had about half a day until they reached the desert, and from there, it was only two days to the city. Two and a half more days, and they would be safe.

They bounded through the forest when Itachi suddenly put out his arm and stopped. As soon as Itachi stopped, so did Kimiko.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

Itachi put a finger to his lips to silence her and listened to their surroundings.

It was quiet. He could hear a soft wind blowing through the trees, but nothing else. Where had the birds and forest animals gone? And then he could hear it, the soft footsteps of a group of ninja coming towards them. He quickly and silently signaled the news to Kimiko using hand signs. There were two squads on ninja coming directly towards them, and they were coming fast.

Itachi and Kimiko quickly hid high in the tree tops. Moments later, the two squads appeared, and with them so did Aoi.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please Review!


	26. Battle

So yeah, I was MIA for two weeks, but to make up for it I have a longer than normal action-packed chapter for you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

Aoi looked around the forest suspiciously. He could have sworn he'd felt the presence of the girl's chakra.

"Spread out and search for them!" he ordered his teams, "I know they're near."

Immediately the two squads of ninja split up and began searching the immediate area. Even Aoi himself went looking around the heavily forested area.

* * *

Kimiko looked down on the scene below them. She knew something had to be done, but what? If one of them got hurt again, they'd probably never make it back to Konoha, so avoiding conflict looked like the better choice, but with the Rain-ninja so close, it would nearly be impossible to get away safely.

She felt Itachi lightly tap her shoulder and turned to face him.

"These ninja are after you, so it's your call," he signed, "We can try to get away now while they still don't know where we are, or we could use that to our advantage and end this now. What do you want to do?"

There was a moment of silence, then, "Let's do this," she breathed.

* * *

Itachi heard two ninja rustling through the foliage beneath him.

Silently he dropped down out of the tree, and before either ninja knew what had happened, they were on the ground dead; each with a kunai in his chest.

Just as quickly as he had come, Itachi had disappeared back into the shadows of the forest. They had decided that Itachi would take out as many ninja as he could while Kimiko went after Aoi. Though he didn't like the idea of them splitting up for no matter how short the amount of time was, he knew that it was better that there were fewer enemies to deal with once their presence was made known.

* * *

Kimiko had finally found Aoi alone, and was about to attack him, when he turned to face her with the Blade of the Thunder Spirit already drawn. His eyes were wide with bloodlust.

"Did you really think you could sneak up on me?" he asked, "I've memorized your chakra signature, no matter how hard you try to hide, I'll find you again."

"I'm not hiding anymore," said Kimiko in a low voice, "I'm here to end this."

Aoi let out a long shrill whistle then laughed, "Please! Even if Rinji and his bats are gone, I'll still win! You're Crystal Jutsu is still weak against my Blade of the Thunder Spirit. Oh, and by the way, that whistle? It was to alert my teams of your arrival. They're probably ambushing that Uchiha boy as we speak.

Suddenly, Kimiko felt a surge of panic rush through her that was quickly replaced by a surge of anger.

A crystal blade materialized in her hand and she lunged at Aoi.

* * *

Itachi had just found two more Rain-ninja when a shrill whistle was heart throughout the forest coming from the direction Kimiko went in.

As soon as his mind started wandering, he focused again. Now was not the time to be worried about someone who was perfectly capable of handling herself. He needed to be alert id they wanted to get through this.

He heard yelling coming from where he had left the bodies lying on the forest floor. Now that the ninja were all together, he might as well show himself.

* * *

Aoi jumped away from Kimiko and drew the umbrella from his back. He opened it and spun it in the air.

As hundreds of poisoned senbon rained down on her, unable to escape Kimiko raised her hands to shield her face. Aoi smirked, "That was too easy." As the dust settled, his smirk turned into a scowl.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," taunted Kimiko. As she looked up at Aoi, he could see a shiny layer of crystal covering her body from head to toe.

Aoi scowled, "So what?" he snapped, "All that means is that I can't use senbon to rid myself of you."

He raced towards Kimiko brandishing the Blade of the Thunder Spirit. She effectively evaded the actual sword, but the high voltage electricity around it nicked her and sent her flying back into a tree trunk. As she hit the tree, she landed on her newly healed arm, and a jolt of pain ran from the shoulder down. Kimiko groaned in pain.

* * *

Itachi dropped down into the middle of the six remaining Rain-ninja. They looked around startled.

One let out a startled yelp, "Uchiha, Itachi! Where did he come from?" Another saw his glazed over eyes and laughed, "Look at him! He's blind! What can he do to us?"

After the others noticed his eyes too, they smirked and began to feel more confident. Slowly, they advanced on him.

Itachi could practically feel their overconfidence radiating off of them. He smirked. People really were making it too easy for him to overpower them. The one good thing about him being blind is that, so far, no one had expected him to be able to fight back, and that meant that he had the advantage.

As soon as they got close enough to him, he drew two kunai and lashed out at them.

* * *

Kimiko pushed herself to her feet. She had to find some way to get around that sword. She couldn't allow herself to lose this time and that sword was all that was stopping her. She needed more time to think!

When Aoi got to the tree Kimiko had flown into, she was gone. He grinned crazily and cut clean through the tree's trunk. "Where are you Kimiko?" he yelled tauntingly as he cut through another trunk. "I'll find you," he sneered, "You can't hide from me!" He yelled the last part as he cut through yet another trunk.

"You aren't behaving like a very good ninja!" he jeered, "Real ninja don't hide from their opponents!" He went to swing at another tree, but this time he was met with a crystal sword.

"Who ever said I was hiding?" growled Kimiko as she fought to maintain her crystal sword.

"We've already been through this," scolded Aoi, "You can't hope to win that way. My sword will just disintegrate you're crystal."

But instead of disintegrating, Kimiko's sword grew denser. "If I keep adding more crystal particles faster than the electricity can disintegrated them, I might have a chance," thought Kimiko as she concentrated on her jutsu.

"What are you doing? This shouldn't be happening!" shouted Aoi as he applied more force to his sword.

Kimiko met his added strength and applied more. Their deadlock kept going at this rate until Kimiko wondered if she could take anymore. Keeping the crystal sword together was using up a lot of her chakra. She could barely even keep up with Aoi's strength at this point, and the Blade of the Thunder Spirit was letting off a powerful and painful discharge. It was a wonder that Aoi hadn't collapsed from it, especially since he was the one holding the sword.

Just when it seemed like the impasse would go on forever, there was a loud cracking sound. In an explosion of light and crystal dust, both swords broke, and Aoi and Kimiko were sent flying backwards.

As much as Kimiko wanted to stay down and rest, she knew she couldn't. She had a job to finish.

She rose to her feet and ran towards Aoi. He snarled at her, "You'll regret doing that! I'll kill you!"

He swung a punch at her and she blocked it with her good arm and jumped backwards.

"Without your sword, you are nothing!" she growled back as she performed a set of hand signs, "Crystal Style: Crystal Prison!" she yelled. Crystal sprung up from the ground and began to encompass Aoi. Without his Blade of the Thunder Spirit, he was unable to cut the crystal away from him, and he was enveloped in it.

Slowly Kimiko sank down to her knees as the crystal shattered, and with it so did Aoi. She was exhausted and now her newly healed arm was throbbing again.

She felt a firm hand rest on her shoulder and immediately knew it was Itachi. She turned to look at him and saw that he had a few shallow cuts, but was otherwise ok.

She sighed in relief, "It's over."

* * *

Don't worry. I still have a whole story arc and some fillers left before the story's over. Fret not.

I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! Please review!


	27. Closure

It feels so good to have this chapter done. I've had it sitting in the back of my head ever since I had the idea of starting this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Itachi helped Kimiko stand as waves of exhaustion and relief hit her one after another. It was over. They could stop running. They could relax their guard.

"We can go home now," she realized as they started down the path to Konoha.

Home. When had she started thinking of Konoha as a home? When she was younger, all it had been to her was a training ground; a place for her to get stronger. When had that changed? At what point had she started looking forward to getting back to Konoha after every mission? Did it really matter when things started to change? She had a home to return to, and more than that, she had a family. She had Kakashi, and Temari, and Shisui, and Tobi.

She looked up at Itachi as they walked and smiled. Now she even had Itachi as her family.

Itachi looked down at Kimiko and cracked a tiny smile himself, "It's getting dark. We need to find a place to set up camp."

Kimiko nodded and started looking around their surroundings for a clearing of some sort. Her smile faded into a small frown and her brow furrowed. Something about this part of the forest seemed strangely familiar. It wasn't the kind of familiarity that you get from passing an area thousands of times on missions, but more like from a distant memory or a clouded dream.

And then it clicked, "I know where we can go," grimaced Kimiko.

* * *

It was dark when they got to the clearing, but Kimiko recognized it immediately, even if it had been years since she'd been there.

Being in the Land of Fire again, meant that instead of getting snow in the winter, you get rain. It had obviously rained recently, because the rancid smell that came off the rotting, black wooden beams smelled damp and mossy.

If the smell bothered Itachi, he didn't show it, "Where are we?" he asked quietly.

Kimiko let out a ragged breath, "This is where I-" she took another deep breath, "This was my home before Konoha."

Itachi's mind reeled. What does one do in this situation? Should he give her space or stay with her? Should he say something? He opened his mouth to say something, but Kimiko abruptly cut him off.

"No," she smiled up at him again, only this time it was forced. She knew he couldn't see it, but pretending helped her. "I'll deal with this tomorrow. Right now both of us need to rest and regain our strength."

* * *

Both ninja sat in front of a crackling fire in silence. Kimiko brought her legs up to her chest and drew her arms around them. Her eyes never wavered from the fire.

Itachi sat Indian style, watching Kimiko's moves closely. More than anything, he wanted to help her, but he also knew that she wouldn't open up until she was ready to deal with this herself.

They both sat like that until the fire was nothing more than glowing embers, and only then did they finally fall asleep.

_Kimiko sat on a bench facing the clan's playground. Three little girls were playing on it, their laughter filled the air. One girl was obviously younger than all the others. The girls were playing tag, and the younger one looked like she was it._

_The youngest girl ran after the older girls in vain. Her short legs just couldn't keep up with theirs._

"_Onee-san! Guren! Slow down!" complained the girl._

_Kimiko's eyes widened as she realized what she was watching._

"_If we did that then it wouldn't be tag, stupid," said Guren mater-of-factly._

_The little girl sat down in the sand stubbornly, "I'm not stupid! You are!" she retorted, "I can't keep up with you guys! It isn't fair!"_

_The other girl sat down next to the youngest girl, "She's right Guren, her legs are just too small to keep up with ours," she said as she winked at her sister, "Let's go play on the swings."_

_The little girl's eyes immediately lit up at that idea, and she ran to the swing set._

"_That's so like you Mikomi," whined Guren as she stuck her tongue out, "You just side with her because she's your sister."_

_Mikomi just shrugged and smiled at her then ran to push her sister on the swings._

_Guren huffed and turned her back on them for all of three seconds before she turned around and ran towards them. "Hey, wait for me!"_

_Kimiko smiled as she watched the scene in front of her. Hearing the giggles of the girls was like having a warm blanket wrapped around her._

It was dawn when she woke up. The sun was barely visible on the horizon. She looked over and saw that Itachi was still asleep, then slowly got up.

* * *

In the morning light, the ruins were more easily seen. Many of the parts of buildings that were still standing after the fire had fallen due to rot.

The first place she went was the playground from her dream. She sat on the bench and looked over the playground, reliving her dream.

Next she wandered around the complex until she got to her house. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously stepped inside. The first room she came to was the kitchen. She could hear her mother calling Mikomi and her down to dinner, or her father asking them how their day had been.

Next she moved to the family room. She didn't really know what to expect there, or what she was hoping for, maybe a toy from her childhood that could be salvaged or a family picture that had survived the fire. But, of course, there's no way that her cardboard shuriken or her toy blocks could have survived.

The rest of her journey through the house went very similar to this. Old memories were stirred up then put to rest.

The last room she went to was her sister's. Of course everything that was left was dusty and bug infested, but in her mind's eye, it was the same as it had always been.

Soft footsteps were heard down the hall and stopped at the door. Itachi had woken, and in the time it had taken her to work her way through the house, the sun had risen completely.

Itachi stayed at the door. He didn't want to intrude on Kimiko's moment with her past ghosts.

Kimiko reached into her weapon's pouch and pulled out the little jar full of crystal shards that she had been carrying with her since she was eight.

She kissed the cool side of the tiny jar and gently set it down on Mikomi's old bedside table. "Thank you," she whispered as she let go of the jar.

She turned towards the door and Itachi.

They stood outside the complex, ready to go. Kimiko turned to look at it one more time. She knew that this would be the last time she ever came back here. As the sun slowly rose higher in the sky behind the complex, Kimiko reached for Itachi's hand.

His hand was rough and calloused from years of ninja training, but more importantly, it was firm, it was concrete, it was safe, and it was comfortable.

"Okay," said Kimiko, not taking her eyes off of the dilapidated buildings, "I'm ready to go."

Itachi nodded and gently lead her away, and back towards Konoha, back towards her new home.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review!

For those of you asking, they get to Konoha next chapter.

Next time: Home

(You guys deserved a tiny preview! Thanks for staying this long!)


	28. Home

Here it is! Took me longer than usual, but It's there!

Sorry it's really late, I had it ready a while ago, but I'm having problems uploading to/editing this story. Every time I pulled it up, I got the error page.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Kotetsu stretched and scratched his nose, "Why do we always get this job?" he complained as he yawned loudly.

Izumo and Kotetsu sat in the little guard house at the village gates like always.

"You should be proud to guard the citizens of Konoha," chastised Izumo.

"But it isn't exciting at all!" whined Kotetsu.

As the two shinobi bickered, two small shapes could be seen slowly approaching the village. As they got closer, it became apparent that they had been on the road for a long time. Their ripped clothes were covered in mud as well as some blood.

The larger figure was walking a little strangely, hesitantly even, and the other was nursing an arm.

It was only when they were a couple meters away from the gate that Izumo noticed them. He stopped mid-word and his eyes widened.

"But you've got to admit," continued Kotetsu, "It isn't a very cushy job. Am I right?" When he got no answer, he looked over at his friend to see what happened. He followed Izumo's gaze and when his eyes rested on the scene before him he gawked in awe.

Suddenly, Izumo snapped out of his stupor, "Go get the Hokage!" he ordered as he started running to the two people approaching the gate. Kotetsu stood still in awe. "Go! Now!" Izumo said again as he looked back at his partner. Kotetsu snapped to attention and started running towards the Hokage Residence.

* * *

Once Itachi and Kimiko reached the gates, they got swept up in a whirl of action.

Izumo met them just outside the gate and they were to be escorted to the Hokage Residence, but Tsunade met them halfway there. When she laid eyes on them, the shock registered only to be pushed to the back of her mind once she took in their appearance, and saw that Itachi was blind.

They were promptly rushed to the hospital for treatment as well as a physical and mental assessment.

As they were rushed through the village, people stopped and stared in awe at them, but none of that registered to either of them, because they were home. They could finally completely let their guards down and relax.

Once they got to the hospital, Tsunade rushed off to get a medical team while Itachi and Kimiko were shown to adjacent rooms.

As soon as she realized this, Kimiko shook her head vehemently. Even if they were home, she still wasn't comfortable with having Itachi out of her sight. It made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Finally, they were put in a hospital room with two beds and a thin blue curtain that could divide the room.

Medical teams rushed around the room checking on Itachi's and Kimiko's stats, with Tsunade overseeing them.

Kimiko was getting tired, it was like those three months on the run from the Sound and Rain ninja had finally caught up with her, and now that she didn't have to fight for her survival anymore, she could finally get a decent sleep. So even with the medic-nin poking and prodding at her she drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

When she woke up, all the medic ninja were gone, and her arm felt good as new. Even though the medic ninja were gone, the room seemed even louder. She looked over at Itachi's bed and saw that he was now surrounded by His Shisui, Tobi, Reiko, and his mother and father. Reiko was hugging him.

Kimiko grimaced a little as she sat up and groaned.

"Look!" yelled Tobi, "Kimi-chan's awake!" He ran and threw himself on her in a big bear hug, and Shisui wasn't too far after him.

Tobi was sobbing, "We thought you two were dead!" he cried.

At the same time Shisui was crushing her, "I told you they weren't dead!" he said triumphantly.

Suddenly Temari's fan came out of nowhere and thumped Tobi and Shisui on the head.

The let go in pain and Temari soon replaced them. "I'm so glad you're ok!" she said in relief, "Never ever scare me like that again!" She said sternly as she released her hold on Kimiko.

Kimiko smiled, "Don't worry, I don't plan on it," she said seriously.

She looked up and saw Kakashi standing at the end of her bed. He walked over to her and gently embraced her for a split second, then backed up and cleared his throat, "Welcome home," he said, his eyes creased in a way that made it obvious he was smiling.

She smiled back at him. She was home, and she was with her family. For the first time in a long time, she felt whole.

She looked over at Itachi, but he obviously wasn't feeling the same way. His brow was furrowed and he had a frown on his face.

She was about to ask what was wrong when Tsunade walked over to Itachi's bed.

"Good news," she said, "Because your loss of sight is poisoned based, we can make an antidote, and with a few healing sessions, your sight should come back.

Fugaku looked as stern as always, but Mikoto, let out a visible sign of relief, and so did Kimiko.

"That's great Itachi," enthused Reiko.

"Yeah," joined in Shisui, "Now you can still serve as a ninja!"

"No," said Fugaku, "After this, he's quitting Anbu and joining the Uchiha police force until he becomes the head of the clan.

Loud shouts of protest could be heard from Shisui and Tobi, while Mikoto just looked away sadly, but nothing came out of Itachi. He just looked the same as he had when Kimiko first looked over.

A tense, awkward silence fell after that. A couple moments later, Fusa, one of the head medic ninja came in and announced that visiting hours were over.

Everyone shuffled out quickly, dying to escape the tense atmosphere. Temari, Shisui and Tobi smiled and waved at her as they left, and Kakashi gave her his trademark eye crinkle. Reoodiko kissed Itachi on the cheek and was about to walk out the door, when she turned and smied at Kimiko, "Good to have you back," she said, then she turned and left.

Finally it was just Kimiko and Itachi left in the room.

It was silent, and then Itachi spoke. His voice was as if it came from a person that knew he would die in the next twenty-four hours, rather than someone who had just learned that he'd get to see again.

He whispered it so quietly; Kimiko had to strain her ears to hear his words. "Sasuke defected from Konoha."

* * *

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	29. Eyes

So if everything goes according to my plans, there should only be about two, maybe three chapters left in this story. It's almost over!

**I have a poll on my profile so you guys can help me pick what to write next. You can go there after you read this chapter, or you can just leave what you want in the comments. I'll put the choices at the bottom of the chapter.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Some scenes from this chapter and the next are adaptations of episode 113 in Naruto Shippuden.

* * *

The Next Day

Sasuke brought the hilt of his sword down on one of his opponent's collar bone and lashed out at another with his foot. Thousands of injured shinobi were scattered around his feet.

He was in a giant field outside of Orochimaru's base. Orochimaru had brought him thousands if his "experiments" for him to train on. He was down to the last ten. He knew it wouldn't be long now; Orochimaru was getting weaker and weaker. Pretty soon he'd be weak enough for Sasuke to finish off with little trouble, and desperate enough to try to take Sasuke's body, making him even more vulnerable.

Sasuke punched his last opponent in the gut then kicked him in the chest. The man in front of him fell over in pain and exhaustion. He smirked, "It's almost time," he thought.

He heard clapping behind him and turned around to see a grinning Orochimaru. "Very good, Sasuke-kun. You're improving greatly, but," he frowned "You didn't kill any of them. You're too soft. If you want to have power you have to be heartless."

Sasuke turned and started walking away, as he did, he said, "Don't worry, when the time comes, I will be."

Orochimaru's eyes became steel as Sasuke walked away, "Soon," he thought, "Soon it will be time, and then your eyes will be mine."

* * *

Itachi felt like his world was ending. All he'd been doing since he found out that Sasuke defected from Konoha, he'd just been lying in his hospital bed and talking even less than usual. He'd worked so hard to come back home, to stop the heavy burden of the clan from falling on Sasuke's shoulders, and now he'd completely lost his brother. Not only that, but now that his father was taking him out of Anbu, he was going to lose the…something he had with Kimiko.

He felt overpowered with all the different emotions he was feeling. Despair over Sasuke and his father's decision, relief to be home, excitement that he'd be able to see the world again, not that he'd ever admit it and confusion over Reiko and Kimiko. He didn't even know what it is he has with Kimiko. They knew each other too well to just be friends, but he didn't have "those" kind feelings for her, did he? "Do I still love Reiko?" he wondered, "I've been with her so long, I just-"

His thoughts were interrupted when Fusa came into the room. "Kimiko," she said, "You're able to leave now. Tsunade wants you to go see Ibiki and debrief him on what happened. She said you're to go straight there."

Kimiko got off her cot, "Thank you Fusa," she said as she looked around for anything she might have had on her when they were rushed to the hospital.

Fusa nodded and walked out of the room.

Kimiko looked hesitantly at Itachi and the door, decided that Itachi still needed time after the news he got yesterday, and moved towards it.

Itachi's heart picked up speed, "My eyes are scheduled to be worked on later this afternoon," he said as calmly as he could.

Kimiko broke into a small but genuine smile, understanding exactly what he wanted, "I'll be there," she promised.

* * *

Orochimaru had gone to his room, and Sasuke had retreated to his training room. He was practicing the old shuriken jutsu Itachi had taught him so long ago. Itachi.

He had heard that the reason Itachi was dead was Orochimaru. Sasuke was sure that the mission would have gone off without a hitch if it weren't for Orochimaru. He must have sent his best ninja. Not just any ninja could defeat Itachi or make Shishui run away.

Sasuke's eyes hardened, He wasn't going to wait any more. Orochimaru was going to die today. He unsheathed his sword and sliced through the wooden training wall in front of him. "The next thing Orochimaru sees will be my Chidori Sharp Spear," thought Sasuke darkly.

* * *

Kimiko ran towards the hospital. Ibiki had kept her longer than she expected. They kept asking her the same questions over and over and even used the Time Reversal Technique on her to get small details she might have forgotten. Now she was running late.

She skidded to a halt at the front desk. "Where is Uchiha, Itachi's surgery being performed?" she hurriedly asked the receptionist. The girl stared at her blankly, then shook herself, "Um, room 213, but-"

Kimiko had already started running off towards the stairs.

"Mam!" yelled the receptionist, "You aren't allowed on that floor!"

By then Kimiko was already down the hall and halfway up the stairs. As she rushed through the halls, several weird looks were shot at her.

* * *

Itachi had been put under five minutes ago and Tsunade was feeling around the occipital part of his brain to find out what was wrong. Several medic ninja were on standby in the room in case something went wrong.

Shisui and Tobi were put on missions specifically so Tsunade wouldn't have to work on Itachi with them being distracting. Fugaku was busy with clan affairs, so the only two others in the room were Mikoto and Reiko. They stood on the other side of the operating table watching every move she made.

* * *

Kimiko finally found the right operating room, her hand was on the handle of the door when she was stopped by the receptionist from earlier and several members of the security team.

"I'm sorry but you aren't allowed to go in there," said the receptionist.

"Look," said Kimiko gruffly, "I was asked to be there, and I'm late, so if you'd just let me in-" she went to open the door, but one of the security men gripped her arm with his big hand."

"Only Medic ninja and family members are allowed inside that operating room," said the receptionist determinedly as she put a seal on the door to lock it from the inside, "Now, according to your attire, you are neither an Uchiha nor a Medic-nin. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait in the lobby."

Kimiko sized up her opponents, but decided that she still didn't have enough energy to take on the hospital security. "Fine," she snapped as she yanked her arm out of the big security man's grasp, "I'll wait." With that she turned and strutted down the hall, but instead of going to the lobby, she went up to the roof. It she had to wait around then she'd at least do it on her terms and where she could soak in a view of the village she'd missed so much.

She stepped into the sunlight and went over to the chain-link fence bordering the roof, laced her fingers in the green wires and looked over the city. It was even more amazing now that she knew what it was like to think she might not ever get back to it alive. It really felt like home now.

* * *

Here are the choices on the poll (You can vote for up to 2 choices):

Young Justice story (challenge)

Harvest Moon story (Claire x Doctor Trent)

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Naruto story (I'll Come Back Soon I Promise oneshots/scenes that never made it into the story due to length problems)

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	30. Fate

I've officially made it to 30 chapters! And I have 99 reviews! I have new found respect for people with like 300 reviews. They must be amazing writers.

**MY POLL IS STILL GOING! GO TO MY PROFILE TO BE A PART OF THE VOTING!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and some scenes are from. very similar to some scenes from episodes 113 and 114 of Naruto Shippuden.

* * *

Itachi became aware of himself waking up, but he still couldn't see anything. His word remained black. He shot up into a sitting position, and his hand flew to his eyes. He felt a gauzy material over his eyes and his pulse slowed. "Of course," he thought, "My eyes are bandaged. No wonder I can't see anything."

"Oh you're up," said Tsunade's voice. "In that case I can go ahead and take off the bandages." She walked over to him with a small pair of scissors. "Your eyes will be very light sensitive at first, so open your eyes slowly." He nodded slowly as Tsunade began to cut away at the bandages.

He felt the bed give a little on each side as two people each took one of his hands. "Oh this is so exciting!" said the voice of Mikoto from his left, "I'm so glad that the damage wasn't permanent!"

With that, the bandages were lifted from his face. He slowly cracked open his eyes a tiny bit and light came rushing through. His eyes snapped shut. After a few seconds, he decided to try again, and started opening his eyes more cautiously.

At first all he saw were shapes and shades of colors, but the whole room eventually focused and his eyesight was as clear as it had ever been.

Suddenly Tsunade shinned a small light into both his eyes, and Itachi recoiled as the tiny beam of light burned his eyes. Tsunade took the light away seconds later, "If you have any relapses, come see me right away," she said sternly, then her demeanor lightened, "But you should be fine."

His mother's hands shook around his bigger hand, "You are so lucky that Tsunade is the best poison expert around," she said shakily.

Itachi smiled reassuringly at Mikoto, "Everything's going to be alright now," he said.

He turned to his other side expecting to see Kimiko, but found Reiko instead. Something deep inside him registered the pang of disappointment he felt, but his smile never faltered as he was embraced by Reiko.

He looked for Kimiko over Reiko's shoulder as she hugged him, but the only other people in the room were medical ninja dressed in white. "Did she forget that easily?" he wondered to himself. As Reiko broke the hug, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

* * *

Sasuke walked down the long corridors of Orochimaru's base with purpose. He stopped outside Orochimaru's door. Loud coughing came from within. Sasuke extended his hand so that the tips of his fingers were almost touching the door. The coughing continued. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Lighting Style: Chidori Sharp Spear!" A bright beam of lighting style chakra extended from his fingertips and through the door.

Sasuke heard Orochimaru call, "Who's there?" from within the room. He casually slashed the door dividing them to pieces with his sword. Sasuke's Chidori Sharp Spear had cut through both of Orochimaru's hands, effectively pinning them together, making him unable to form hand signs.

As the pieces fell to the floor, Orochimaru said, "As I expected. I had a feeling it would come to this."

Sasuke slowly walked towards Orochimaru, driving the spear in deeper and coolly answered, "It seems as though, standing before you, I have become heartless." Orochimaru grimaced as the spear completely passed through his palms and into the wall.

"For your own selfish reasons, you view people as toys and experiment on them. What are you looking for exactly? You disgust me!" whispered Sasuke as he leapt at Orochimaru. Just as he was about to deal the killing blow, a blur jumped out or Orochimaru's mouth, and his body slumped forward.

Sasuke turned to face the thing that had come out of Orochimaru. It was a giant white snake made out of smaller snakes, and the head was Orochimaru's.

Sasuke smirked, "So this is what all you're experiments have turned you into," he said amused, "A white serpent."

"Now Sasuke-kun," hissed Orochimaru, "I think I'll have that body or yours." The snake lunged at Sasuke, mouth open wide.

* * *

Itachi walked up the stairs to the hospital roof. After spending two months with pretty much no one else except for Kimiko, he wasn't used to being around people. He'd felt overcrowded in that small room, especially with his mother and Reiko doting on him.

He opened the door leading to the roof and squinted into the sun. It was a beautiful day in Konoha. It was just the beginning of spring and a warm breeze swept through the trees. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Itachi noticed Kimiko looking out over Konoha through the wires of the fence. His eyes softened as they took in how relaxed she looked.

He walked towards her until he was only a couple of feet away then stopped. "If she's been here the whole time, then why wasn't she at my surgery like she promised?" he wondered.

"I'm sorry," said Kimiko. She turned to look at him, "I tried to get there I really did," her speech became faster, "I was running late because of the debriefing, and then when I finally found your room…"

Itachi looked at her amused. Was she flustered? It was interesting to see a kunoichi that was so calm and focused in battle become flustered over something that compared to life and death, seemed so trivial. "I believe you," said Itachi in an amused tone.

Kimiko smiled, relieved, and turned back to the view, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked contentedly.

Itachi nodded in agreement as he looked out over the village. Few things were as beautiful as Konoha in his opinion.

After a couple moments of comfortable silence, Kimiko spoke up, "So, are you really going to quit being a ninja?"

Itachi nodded again, "I'm joining the police core and I have to prepare for my taking over the of the Uchiha clan."

"Are you doing it because you want to or because you have to?" asked Kimiko. She was met with silence. "If you don't want to do it, then you shouldn't let your father make you!" said Kimiko growing infuriated.

"It's my duty. I was born to take my father's place at the head of the Uchiha Clan," maintained Itachi.

There was another period of silence between the two as they went back to looking over the village, only there was a tense undercurrent to it.

"Do you believe in fate?" asked Kimiko without taking her eyes off the village.

"Do you?" he countered, "I believe that life is like a road. People before you have made it for you, and you follow it until you reach the end. It's not the same thing as fate."

"Well in that case, if life is a road, then I believe you have two choices. You can follow the road people set for you, or you can make your own," said Kimiko firmly, "Discover your own end of the road, and decide when it ends."

"That doesn't change anything," said Itachi with a small hint or bitterness, "I have a duty to my clan, especially now that Sasuke is gone."

Then it dawned on Kimiko. Of course! How could she forget? Itachi couldn't abandon the Uchiha now. It wouldn't be like him to abandon his family at a time like this.

"I'm sorry," apologized Kimiko, "I just…" she faltered. "I just what?" she thought, "I just don't want to see him on the streets of Konoha randomly and no other time? I don't want to lose him to the Uchiha clan?" she mentally laughed at herself, "I can't tell him that." Instead she said, "In that case, I just want to thank you."

Itachi was stumped, "For what?"

"For making me who I am. You're the reason I had the motivation to become a strong ninja after all, or part of it at least," she clarified.

Itachi was still stumped, and then he remembered. He remembered, the woods where he found a terrified little eight year old girl who had been bitten by a snake, and the piece of advice he had given her. _"If you want to be a ninja you should learn to protect yourself."_

Kimiko walked over to Itachi, "Thank you for everything," she said as she quickly embraced him, and then was gone before he had time to register what was going on.

Kimiko hurried down the stairs. She refused to say goodbye. Most of the goodbyes she had known had been painful. This one was no different.

* * *

Sasuke stared down at Orochimaru's dead carcass. The serpent's body was gruesome. He turned when he heard Kabuto at the doorway, and walked towards him. As Sasuke passed him, Kabuto asked, "Which one are you?"

Sasuke stopped and glanced back at him, "Which one do you think?" he smirked.

Kabuto froze as the realization hit him. Orochimaru was dead.

* * *

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	31. Roads

So, I'm pretty sure that the next chapter is going to be the last one. It will either be a longish one to tie everything up, of I might make it a shorter one with an epilouge. But, the story is almost over.

**Don't forget to vote on my poll for what you want me to work on next. This is your last chance.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but yes, I do happen to own Kimiko. She's my brain baby.

* * *

It had been a week since Itachi had last seen Kimiko. After he was let out of the hospital, his father immediately entered him into the Uchiha Police Force, and when that wasn't taking up his time, he had endless amounts of meetings to attend. Fugaku wanted to make sure he'd be ready to take over as the head of the clan by the time he turned 21.

Even though his mind had been full of details about the meetings and his induction into the police force, Itachi still thought about Kimiko. The last conversation they had haunted him.

It was after a particularly lengthy meeting that it happened. Itachi was mentally exhausted. As soon as he got to his room he decided that he needed a good long sleep. He might have just miraculously gotten back to Konoha after being declared dead, but that didn't mean he got to have a break. He was an Uchiha after all. Itachi closed his eyes, and before he knew it he was asleep, his last conversation with Kimiko ringing in his ears.

_Itachi found himself standing on a worn dirt road surrounded by trees. The road only stretched forward in front of him, there was nothing behind him. It was a relatively straight road. It curved every now and then, but there were no straying paths of any kind. Being left with no choice, Itachi decided to follow the road._

_After walking for a while, the road became straight, so straight that he could see for miles ahead of him. He could even see the end of the road, the Uchiha compound, and in front of it stood Fugaku Uchiha._

_As he walked, he saw the forest around him get thinner. Eventually, he could see several more roads that ran parallel through his. To his immediate left, he saw Kimiko walking on her road, except she looked like she did when he first met her. She was a little eight year old. He looked ahead and saw that her road ended abruptly and way before his or any of the other roads around him did._

_At the end of her road was a giant white snake with golden eyes with its mouth wide open. Just when he feared that the snake would swallow her up, she veered off her road and disappeared into the forest. _

_Further away, he could see Tobi who had long ago abandoned his path and was chasing a butterfly through the trees._

_He looked to his right and saw Sasuke just in time to see him walk into the underbrush and right into the mouth of the same white snake he thought would eat Kimiko. He willed his body to chase after Sasuke, to try to stop him somehow, but instead he just kept walking._

_He was almost at the compound when he saw an older Kimiko standing at the side of his road._

"_You have two choices: you can follow the road people set for you, or you can make your own," advised Kimiko, "Discover your own end of the road, and decide when it ends. What will you do?"_

Itachi's eyes snapped open, and he sat up in bed. He sighed and rested his head in his hands. "There isn't a choice," he whispered.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon and Kimiko was finally able to get to the market for the first time she had been back. For the entire week she'd been back, she had been drilled by the Anbu, the Hokage, Kakashi, Shisui, Tobi, and Temari on what happened on the mission and all at different times. Not to mention that people she barely knew had been bringing her home cooked meals that she didn't want.

All she really wanted was just some time to herself, that and of course to know if Itachi was alright. She hadn't heard from him since that afternoon on the hospital roof. She turned her attention to the market; it was strangely busier than usual.

She was looking at some fresh fruit when she heard people talking.

"I hear that he's come back, "said one woman, "The nerve! He's the one that ran out on us!"

"Well I heard that he was just on a top secret mission," informed another, "It was all very hush, hush. No one but the Hokage could know."

"Did you know he actually killed Orochimaru!" put in the first woman.

"We did not!" exclaimed the second, "Really?"

"Sure did," confirmed the first woman, "Fugaku would have to be insane not to welcome him back!"

Kimiko dropped her apple when she realized what the women were talking about. Sasuke was back, and not only that, but he wasn't a traitor either! Itachi would be so pleased!

* * *

Fugaku stared down his younger son while Sasuke just stood there.

"You're supposed to inform me before you take on missions like that," said Fugaku, stone faced.

"It was a top secret mission," countered Sasuke, "If I had told you or waited for your approval that would have defeated the purpose. It had to be realistic."

"I don't care," shouted Fugaku, "It was foolish of you to take on a mission that dangerous! Especially since you were the sole heir to the Uchiha clan at the time!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Were? At the time?" he questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

At that moment, Itachi walked into the room. He had come to see what all the shouting was about. He stared in shock.

"Your brother has returned alive," informed Fugaku.

"Itachi?" said Sasuke in awe.

"You are not the heir anymore," said Fugaku, "Itachi is once again, being prepared for that honor."

Itachi registered the happiness that showed through on Sasuke's face when he saw him, but before that, there was a small hint of, what was that? Sadness?

Why would Sasuke be sad that he was back? And that's when he realized, all this time, Sasuke had been following his designated road, but he'd been wanting to leave it. It wasn't a road that lead to Orochimaru that he wanted to make. It was a road to becoming the Head of the Clan he wanted, and with it, Fugaku's respect. The only thing that had been stopping him was his respect for his elder brother, Itachi.

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading! Please review and again, if you want a say in what I write next, please vote!


	32. Destination

Sorry this chapter took so long, and to those who reviewed for last chapter I'm sorry I didn't reply back like I usually do. (Yes I actually do reply back.) My life just got really busy over the last three weeks and has finally just stared to calm down. Anyways, here's the final chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Kimiko. *sniff* My baby girl's grown up. *sniff*

* * *

Itachi lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. He was genuinely puzzled. Why would Sasuke want such a burden? To never be free of the restrictions of the Uchiha clan, that was the fate of the head of the clan. There was no end to the plotting and planning and fighting. But the look is Sasuke's eyes had been so sure, so confident. Sasuke had been wanting this for a while. How had Itachi never noticed? He was Sasuke's brother. He was supposed to know him better than anyone.

Itachi sighed and turned on his side. What was he supposed to do? Did Sasuke really know what it was he was asking for? "No," thought Itachi somewhat bitterly, "If I try to decide what's best for him then I'm no better than Father." He closed his eyes. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

It was a bright sunny morning. Tobi and Shisui were out enjoying the blue sky and Reiko was lounging in the garden. Birds were chirping and the occasional squirrel ran across the yard.

"WHAT?" came the angry voice of Fugaku Uchiha.

Several nearby birds tweeted anxiously and flew off. Shisui and Reiko shoot up from what they had been doing and took off to where the yell came from. A few moments later, Tobi realized that he was alone and ran off to catch up with them.

"What do you mean you want to give up your position as heir to the clan?" snarled Fugaku.

Itachi looked at him calmly, not flinching a bit, "I refuse to become the Clan Leader. I want Sasuke to take over for me."

Mikoto, ever the peace maker, stepped forward, "Itachi," she said, "I don't think you understand what you're giving up."

"I understand perfectly," he responded, "I never wanted the position to begin with."

Fugaku paced angrily, then turned on Itachi, "You _will _be my successor or you will leave the compound. If you don't want anything to do with the Uchiha, then the Uchiha don't want anything to do with you."

Mikoto gasped, "Fugaku! Think about this!" she reasoned, "This is our son, _your_ son!"

Itachi turned to his mother and gave her a small smile, "Its fine. I'll leave." He turned to walk out to the garden. He needed some air. He got to the door when he heard his father's voice yet again. "You have until the end of the day to get your bags together and leave," he said in a low and dangerous voice.

Itachi slid open the door, "Understood," he said. Then he walked out.

* * *

Shisui and Reiko were waiting outside anxiously. Tobi had run off a while ago. Fugaku's yelling had drawn the attention of just about everyone on the compound. They heard the outside door slid shut and turned to see Itachi.

"What happened?" asked Shisui as he ran up to Itachi. Reiko hung back on the bridge that ran over the small pond in the garden.

"I'm leaving the Uchiha compound," said Itachi.

"Already?" asked Shisui, "Isn't it a little early for Tsunade to put you back on missions?"

"I'm not coming back," said Itachi looking a little remorseful, "I don't think I'm welcome back."

"What?" asked a very confused Shisui, "What exactly happened in there?"

"I've been disowned. Sasuke will be taking over for me," he explained.

Suddenly everything began to sink in for Shisui, "I'll help you pack," he said quietly, and then went into the house.

Itachi saw Reiko and walked over to her. They both leaned on the railing of the bridge.

"So what happens now?" she quietly asked him, "What happens with us?"

Itachi took a breath and looked out over the garden, "Do you believe in fate?" he asked.

* * *

Once again, Kimiko was strolling through the village. She just couldn't handle staying cooped up in her small house, she was getting restless, and besides that, there was a beautiful sunset. She couldn't help taking a stroll.

Ever since she'd gotten back, the only thing people had been trying to do was make things more convenient for her. She didn't want to be babied; all she wanted was to get back into the field.

She was passing through the busiest part of the village, the market, when she heard people whispering about the Uchihas again. She rolled her eyes, "Can't they just leave the Uchihas alone?"

A few minutes later, she got to a thinner part of the crowd. The continuous buzz of voiced died down to actual distinguishable conversations.

"Can you believe Fugaku actually threw him out?" asked one man to his wife.

"I know!" she whispered back, "But I never thought that _he_ would do _that_!"

Kimiko raised an eyebrow and turned towards the road leading to the compound, "Did Shisui finally do something bad enough to get kicked out of the clan?" she wondered.

She approached the compound and saw Shisui setting a bag down next to the entrance.

"Shisui!" yelled Kimiko to get his attention.

He jumped, but when he saw her, he broke into a smile and waved wildly. She jogged up to him, "What's going on?" Kimiko asked worriedly, "What did you do?"

Shisui put a shocked face on, "Me? You think _I_ did something to get kicked out?"

"This is you we're talking about," said Kimiko.

"Good point," smiled Shisui, "But it's true, I'm not the one leaving." He pointed behind him as Itachi walked up with his last bag. "He is."

Kimiko was shocked, "Itachi got kicked out?" she asked in disbelief.

"Actually he kind of walked out," laughed Shisui.

Itachi set his bag down and smiled at Kimiko, "You were right. It's time that I find my own destination, even if it means being completely cut off from the Uchiha Clan."

"Completely?" asked Kimiko, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry Kimi-chan!" said Shisui as he swung an arm around her shoulders, "He won't be completely alone! He's still got me and Tobi! And I'm sure Sasuke'll visit!" He leaned over and stage whispered at Itachi, "I'd stay away from Reiko for a while though. She took the brake up hard."

Kimiko's ears perked up when she heard that.

"I can still hear you Shisui!" yelled the raw voice of Reiko from the garden.

"I better go soon before she takes all that emotion out on me!" said Shisui as if it had just dawned on him. "Oh wait! Where are you staying?" he asked Itachi, "I'll come visit."

"I don't know," Itachi gave a little shrug, "I'll find somewhere."

"Ok, I'll just track you down," said Shisui as he ran off.

Itachi turned to Kimiko, "Do you know where I can stay?" he asked.

She smiled at him and picked up a bag, "There are plenty of free apartments around the village," she started walking, "I'll help you."

She realized that he wasn't following her and turned back. "Don't worry," she held her hand out for him, "I'll take care of you; just like I did before."

Itachi smiled warmly at her, "I wouldn't ask for it to be any other way." He enveloped her hand in his own. They fit so comfortably. Yes. This was how things should be. Until they could figure out their own destinations, they'd pave their road together.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who read, or reviewed or favorited or alerted to this story. Thanks to you, I had the motivation to finish this in about seven months.

Some of you may be wondering about what I plan to do next. I think I'm going to work on some oneshots or challenges. I'm also thinking about making a series on oneshots based off of this story, but that might be a while away. Keep a look out for that if you're interested.

Again, thank you to everyone who read this. You've made my first writing experience great. I'm lucky to have such wonderful readers. Also, if anyone's interested in doing some fanart that I could use for the cover of this, I would love you so much. 3


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